Arsenal draw comfort after Barcelona onslaught
It was a case of battening down the hatches for Arsenal after one of the most dominant first-half displays you’re ever likely to witness – but, crucially, they survive to tell the tale.
Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola hailed the opening half as “the best 45 minutes” of his tenure following a breathtaking production of how to play the game. The stats didn’t lie, either. The Primera Liga champions enjoyed 71% possession before the break as the Gunners struggled to comprehend how they’d managed to get to half-time with the scores still level.
Described as “Barcelona-lite” in the build-up to the match, this label appeared to be doing a gross disservice to Barça’s brilliance on the basis of those torturous first 45 minutes for Arsenal.
Not only had they been played off the pitch, but Andrey Arshavin and William Gallas had both been forced off with injuries and Cesc Fàbregas was also ruled out of the second leg after picking up a yellow card which triggered a one-match ban. Perfect half for Barcelona, nightmare-ish for the north Londoners.
If Arsenal’s task of fighting their way back into this match was tough enough, then Arsène Wenger’s job to rally his troops in the interval was mission impossible.
It had been a cruel game of cat and mouse. Barça had toyed with their opponents for far too long and were now being instructed by their master to go for the kill. Naturally, it didn’t take long for Guardiola’s men to inflict their first blow.
Just 22 seconds into the second half, Zlatan Ibrahimovic caught stand-in centre-back Alex Song napping and neatly lobbed the indecisive Manuel Almunia to hand Barcelona their deserved and long-overdue lead.
The floodgates, it seemed, had now been opened wide.
Arsenal tried their best to regroup, but 13 minutes later, Song was again at fault as he allowed the mercurial Swede, Ibrahimovic, to sweep past him once more and go head-to-head with Almunia for a second time.
The Barcelona No.9 made no mistake. Another clinical finish past the Spanish goalkeeper appeared to have sealed the club’s place in the semi-finals of the Champions League. After all, on the basis of the first hour, how could the Gunners even think about winning at the fortress Nou Camp next Tuesday if they’d struggled so badly in their own backyard?
In the process, Ibrahimovic had silenced his army of critics who firmly believed he was incapable of producing in the biggest matches. All of the focus has been placed on preventing the world’s best player, Lionel Messi; and although Arsenal had dealt with the Argentinean magician, valiantly, they had neglected the world’s second most expensive player of all time.
With half an hour still left to play, it looked like game over for the hosts. The crowd were silent, the players heads had visibly dropped and Barca were enjoying every moment. But Wenger had one roll of the dice left. One more trick up his sleeve to try and salvage something from this demoralising encounter.
Initially, it has appeared that attacking midfielder Samir Nasri was the man chosen to make way for the much-maligned Theo Walcott. But instead, Wenger gambled by hauling off full-back Bacary Sagna. What a significant moment in the match this would prove to be.
Although the Arsenal manager had nothing left to lose, even he could not have envisaged the forthcoming response from his 11 men. Inspired by the recently criticised England international winger, Walcott, Arsenal had miraculously found a way back in the game.
Up against the tiring Maxwell, the pacey 21-year-old found a rare bit of space and slotted the ball underneath the Barca goalkeeper, Victor Valdez. Was he at fault for the goal? Arsenal couldn’t have cared less.
The watching Fabio Capello must have been suitably impressed by the impact of the young winger. The only Englishman on the pitch had suddenly provided hope for the 60,000 inside the Emirates Stadium. For the first time in the match, Barcelona had shown they weren’t a team of footballing deities. They had a weakness, and Walcott was the man exploiting it.
As the clock ran down, Arsenal were in the ascendency and needed to capitalise to keep their faint hopes of progressing into the last four alive. This would have been the greatest of great escapes.
With five minutes left on the clock, Nicklas Bendtner chested the ball down to Fàbregas inside the box. As he pulled his right leg back to unleash a volley and surely net the unlikely equaliser, Barcelona centre-back Carles Puyol took it upon himself to make the second leg a whole lot more interesting.
Sent off for fouling Fàbregas and now out of next week’s return leg, the Arsenal captain duly converted the subsequent penalty to complete one of the most unlikely turnarounds of the Champions League season.
That final goal was bitter-sweet, though, as Fabregas pulled up injured and could now face a lengthy spell on the sidelines - but there will always be casualties in a battle. The most important thing was that the task to keep themselves in the tie was achieved.
Arsenal will be written off again before next week’s second leg, but Barcelona will be sure not to take their opponents lightly after last night’s warning sign.
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