I caught up with the Arsenal fan at Gerona airport as we were waiting to catch the plane back to London. He was at the news stand thumbing through a report in an English newspaper of his team’s defeat at the Nou Camp. He seemed a quieter man than the one who, with his mates, had pranced about near the stadium two hours before the match, rat-assed, and singing ‘We’ve got Cesc Fabregas’ over and over again. I felt kind of sorry for him and thought of nothing better to say than , ‘Sorry about last night mate, but the best team won didn’t they?” To which he gestured with an upright finger ,saying as he went, ‘we were robbed by the referee.’
Wenger clearly thought so. He spent most of Tuesday night blaming everything on the referee and will no doubt defend himself before UEFA. As for his players –it was not just a Dutchman who played-well, like a Dutchman. This was an Arsenal team that came out, like the Dutch did in the World Cup final against Spain, seemingly intent on snuffing out Barca’s play with brute force. Wenger’s boys were lucky to get away with conceding just one penalty. One thing is certain though: Respect is no longer a word equated with Arsenal-Barca ties. The gloves have been taken off.
Thankfully for some 93,000 Barca fans Tuesday night will be remembered for something else-for suffering and resurrection. In the lead-up to the match Pep Guardiola’s stress-related back injury had personified a team that was showing signs of exhaustion under the burden of a gruelling schedule of triple trophy hunting and having Mourinho at Real Madrid.
Pujol couldn’t make it although he would have played on a stretcher if called to do so. But Pep was there in the final hours,hiding his pain and staying with his players so that a team came out motivated enough to play with some of its style in-tact , and win . My man of the match was Mascherano who played like a noble gladiator in the lion’s den, before limping off, having given it his all. They used to call it ‘Sweating the shirt’ in the old days.
This was no carnival, more a football Via Crucis, suitably played on the eve of Lent.
To see two teams that play good football is sometimes rare one might think, but the fact that barca and arsenal have played each other countless of times is not a surprise.
rewind to the 16th of feb and London was buzzing, people were rushing home, some took the day off (me in particular) and some just took an interest in football. not for the fact that FCB greatest side to have ever walked the earth were in town. no, because they wanted to see if arsenal could withstand the onslaught from the same side that mauled real madrid’s “Galacticos II” 5-0. also for the fact arsenal thought they were a much improved side than their previous meeting. only time could tell.
wanting to go see this match at the emirates proved way too much for 90 minutes and how glad i was i didn’t go there. i went instead to a bar an hours journey away from my house with a couple of friends. as we stood there surrounded by just a handful of barca supporters who in turn were surrounded by a bucket load of arsenal fans, i felt a gut wrenching moment coming on me. it wasnt my drink, it wasnt because i was standing up, it wasn’t the intimidation from some of my arsenal fans. it was a feeling that barca was about to be beaten tonight. they’re form was going from immortal to mortal. all their focus, confidence, motivation was being pulled down by the media, like a giant squid appearing from the dark and sinking a fierce battleship.
and then it sunk, the second goal closed it all. i saw that match a good game, but entirely fair? i think not. Messi’s goal should have been allowed but then again that’s football.
forward to the second leg and i decided to stay at home and watch. i believed we could stage a comeback. i believed arsenal had quality but lack of experience in a game like this and especially in front of 93,000 home fans.
as i watched on, i saw barca press right from the start and at this point i was remembering the first leg when all the arsenal fans were singing “we got cesc fabrigas” and the same man let them down. but he’s human after all and they all make mistakes as shown by busquets in the second half.
now i do believe we should have been awarded a penalty in the first half when messi was brought down but even with UEFA’s 5 referee’s they failed to spot that. that’s football for some.
as for van persi’s sending off that wasn’t fair either but he shouldn’t have aggravated the referee when he got his first yellow card. and for most arsenal supporters, players, manager and media to say they were robbed and that the sending off changed the tide, i’d say that isn’t fair. for barca to win in the fashion they won that night was certainly much more of a talking point than arsenal’s fashion of playing the blame game.
number of passes
barca 700+ arsenal 119 (aprox)
attempts on goal
barca 19 arsenal 0
thats sums up the whole game really. to say the sending off, which came in the second half, changed the tide is a joke. there was no tide!! more like a waterfall.
i do agree with you jimmy about javier mascherano, he is a talent that only a few in this world can truly see. that night he was like a predator in the forest, devouring arsenal’s attacking midfield like they were his favorite prey. he never gave up and thats what any football fan should admire regardless of what team they play for.
i think arsenal have only themselves to blame and looking at their stats is not really impressive.
they will be keeping an eye on their rivals down the lane this year who have progressed through to next round leaving them to wonder, “is arsenal’s football policy really working for us?”
Lets look at the facts below. Barcelona somehow contrive to have the opposition players sent off from Premier league clubs in the Champions, and then go through to the next round!
The ultimate was in 2009 against Chelsea when 3 clear penalities were turned down by the ref, most probably under EUFA instructions, so to avoid a repeat of another all English Final.
Here are the stats…makes interesting reading and certainly raises the question re corruption / manipulation in the Champions league:
– Chelsea 2005: Drogba sent off – barça win
– Chelsea 2006: Del Horno Sent off – barça win
– Arsenal Champions Final 2006: Arse goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann, sent off – barça win
– Chelsea 2009: 3 penalties turned down – barça progress
– Arsenal 2010: Van Persie sent off – barça win
I rest my case
And that is Barca’s fault, HOW? All those were two leg games.
that is somewhat Barca’s fault, HOW??
they were all two leg matches..