16.2.11 - Making History.

Thursday, 17 February 11,

Arsenal 2 - 1 Barcelona

When you qualify from your Champions League group second and you are drawn against Barcelona for the last-16 stage of the competition, it is fair to assume that most teams would be shitting it, as I was when Arsenal were drawn against them and in the run up to the game last night. However we outplayed the Champions League's elite favourites last night at the Emirates in the first leg of the tie, to give us a one nil advantage against Europe's, and the world's, finest. A touch of class from Arshavin sealed the match after a moment of genius from van Persie drew us level with an early David Villa goal. An epic game calls for an epic blog, so here I go...

For neutrals, last night's game was a mouth watering affair and easily the most inticing of all the last 16 fixtures. It was a case of big brother v little brother. The encounter is always seen as the inspiration (Barca) taking on the inspired (Arsenal), two of the classiest teams playing the same minded football and always Barca would come out as victors, because who could beat Barca at their own game?

It's no secret that Arsenal aspire to the greatness of the Barcelona team, of their 'pure football' methods and their one-touch, silky, tika taka football. The encounter last year, in the quarter final stage of the competition, resulted in Barcelona running circles around us, with them catching each of our players, one after the other, in one of their intricate triangle passing moves, their small accurate and deliberate passes tieing us in knots. Everyone knows that we are two teams cut from the same cloth, but also that Barca are always able to repel any threat we might pose. After last night however we proved that we have grown up and that maybe we should no longer be the 'little brother' but maybe, as Nasri put it, the 'cousin' to Barcelona.

This year, the team vowed that the game would not be the same as it was last year, a 2-2 draw at the Emirates. Last year we showed them too much respect, never daring to interrupt their flow and let them spin the game into their 'Barcelona show', more so at the Nou Camp than at the Emirates, when Lionel Messi single handedly brought down a naive and inexperienced Arsenal side, with a 4-1 victory over us. A draw against Barcelona will always send shivers down a Gooner's back, but maybe after this display, it will more be in anticipation rather than dread.

What made the encounter ever so slightly more appealing was the Catalan in amongst the Arsenal rows of red, instead of in the mint green of Barcelona. Cesc Fabregas, who will forever live his life being linked back to his former club, is of course a proud and devoted Arsenal captain, who spent much of last summer involved in rumours of a move back to Barca, despite the Spanish club only able to offer a miniscule amount, no where near his actual worth. Fondly known by the Arsenal fans as El Capitan, he will remain the leader of our team, at least until the end of the season, and an inspiring figure to play alongside for the likes of young Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott. Much has been made of the fact that the reason he wants to return to Barcelona is because Arsenal haven't won anything for a good five, maybe more now, years and that such a talented player should be winning trophies and have more than one major honour for a club he has been a part of for 8 years now. With a Carling Cup Final looming and a one goal advantage when we return to the Nou Camp, maybe this year will be when he finally gets what he deserves.

The team of this year maybe had an advantage over last year's side due to the fact that we didn't have as many players injured. The team lined up to face the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Villa included Fabregas, van Persie, Walcott, Wilshere and a healthily returned Nasri. All of them played a vital role in securing our home win, and in making history. Last night was the first time we beat Barcelona, making us all very proud gooners.

I usually start this part of the blog, the match analysis, with something along the lines of 'We started the game in full control...'. However when you play Barcelona, you have to expect long periods of being the chasers of the ball, of spectators of the game instead of being part of the game, that being the way in which they go about playing their football. And they go about it with ease and composure, so much so that I realised that this muct be what it is like for other teams to play us, as our basic ideas and mindset are based on 'Barcelona's game' and their football.

We handled the Barcelona pressure and their snappy, creative and sharp tactics extremely well for the first twenty minutes or so, and were extemely lucky not to go one down as early as the fifteenth minute. It's not very often Leo Messi misses a sitter but he somehow managed to prod the ball wide of the post in a one-on-one with the Szczesny, to the relief of the 60,000 strong in the stadium. And his curse of not scoring in England continues to be true, as he failed to convert his chances against us.

But before Messi failed to open the scoring, we had been powering into the Barcelona half determined to make the night a very different story to last year. In the 6th minute of the game, Walcott used his astounding pace to give the Barca back four a bit of a fright, or maybe a taster of what was to come. The winger used his speed to hurtle through into the final third of the pitch, on a run that Maxwell couldn't keep up with but his attempted through ball was overhit to van Persie when Nasri was on the left, completely free and crying out for the ball. Walcott cut a speedy figure for the rest of the match and by the end of the evening it was obvious to see that Barca did in fact have weaknesses, they were vulnerable to pace like Walcott's at the back.

Only a minute later Walcott was back on another mesmerizing run and played in Fabregas whose dinked pass came to van Persie but the shot was blocked by an alert Valdes. After that came Messi's perfectly timed run to see him onside and beating our back four, guilty of a spot of ball watching, but Messi ended up slipping the ball wide, cue the Emirates crowd letting out a collective sigh of relief.

We were on a classic Arsenal counter attack ten minutes later, after some intricate possession from both sides, which saw Walcott away down the left wing only to find Fabregas on the right whose ball into the waiting van Persie was intercepted frustratingly by Maxwell. By this stage of the game I wasn't disappointed by failure to score or produce chances, I was thankful that at least we knew we could get the ball off Barca. Song was also booked within the first ten minutes and from then on had to be extremely careful, which he wasn't, treading on very very thin ice with the referee by the time he was substituted, to keep us with 11 men on the pitch.

The goal that saw Barcelona take the lead came from the feet of David Villa, one of Fabregas' World Cup winning team mates, among many others in the Barca side. This time our back four were very, very guilty of ball watching as Messi slipped through a ball for Villa to get on the end of and nutmeg Szczesny cheekily to put Barca in front. The clinical finish was likely to come from this man, a talented striker who has, since last night's events has gone on to say that Barcelona were the better side and deserved to win. Slightly disrespectful, however he is a neat and powerful finisher and has proved that he is a force to be reckoned with when we visit the Now Camp.

Going one down to Barcelona can result in different reactions. You can park the bus, give up and say that nothing can be done against such a formidable side or you can be encouraged by the goal difference and make it mke you want the goal(s) even more. We decided on the latter, to my joy, which involved Wilshere and Kocielny playing what must have been their game of the season. Van Persie somewhat annoyingly scuffed his shot wide on the half hour mark after a pass from Wilshere which meant we were still trailing to a forceful Barcelona team at half time.

Before the whistle went for the break, Messi had put Barcelona two in the lead, but his goal was ruled, fairly, offside, as were many other chances Barcelona had in the first half which was encouraging as it meant we were holding a high and steady line at the back, playing them offside, apart from a lazy moment to allow Villa through the defensive line, onside. The team that played this first 45 minutes against Barcelona was definitely an improvement on last year's. This time it was like we actually believed we could do something, and you could feel the desire and belief within the team. However at the start of the second half we really came into our own as the fact that we were playing Barcelona seemed to fade to the back of our minds and we began to concentrate on the task at hand. It has to be said that in the first half we also held up better against them as opposed to when we just let them walk all over us last year. We were stronger and more determined this time around, meaning that both teams were having equal amounts of possession and it wasn't a training session-esque game for Barca.

The start of the second half was even more encouraging as we surged forward and pressured Barca. They of course retailiated. When Koscielny brought the ball forward form the back for Fabregas to drill in a delivery for van Persie at the near post and Pique came agonizingly in between van Persie and the ball, Barca responded minutes later with another chance for Messi to score after he received a through ball from Iniesta but he could only hit the side netting, and we were again, thankfully, let off. As the game progressed with spells of possesion from both sides it looked as if the magic would never come, if maybe this year wouldn't be the year.

Koscielny continued to be our rock at the back, making vital, clean challenges and clinical touches to prevent Barca form slipping someone through and in a midfield alongside Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc, 19 year old Jack Wilshere was the one who shone, his creativity and deft touches never ceasing to amaze the Arsenal fans. Arshavin was brought on for Song before Walcott was taken off for Bendtner. At times the visiting side were playing as if they are at home, in their own backyard but the fact we kept Messi, Xavi and Iniesta reasonably quite for the whole game speaks volumes.

The moment of truth came in the most unlikely of forms. An unspeakable angle at which to score was presented to van Persie in the 78th minute, after Clichy sought him out with a pass on the left and the in form striker took on the challenge, finding the back of the net at the most ridiculous angle possible at which to smash the ball home. The crowd was uplifted, the manager who had previously been cutting quite an agitated figure on the sidelines was reignited with hope and the team was raring to go.

The atmosphere in the ground was no doubt electric as the fans willed the team to go forward and find another and to keep the Barca team under pressure. We kept the ball confidently and well before Messi broke through only to be held up by Clichy and denied progression deeper into our half. 5 minutes was the time we had to wait for the winning goal to arrive, from non other than slightly disappointing this season Arshavin who has only of late been finding his best form once again.

Nasri broke away down the left in acres of space and was left to cut back for Arshavin who kept his cool, kept the ball down and floated it into the top corner of the net, completing our breathtaking comeback and our mesmerizing resurgance. The fans were asking for a third and while we did try, Barca were also trying to equalize and kept us pegged back in our own half despite us trying to press high up the field. The ref waited an agonzing thirty seconds longer than the allocated three minutes and so when the whistle came, the feeling was fantastic.

I can only dream of what it was like to be there, in that corwd, cheering on the players who came from a goal down to beat a strong and exceptionally talented Barcelona side. While many of us will get carried away with this stunning victory, it only provides us with a mere chance of progressing further in the comptetion as not many teams can beat a now even more determined Barcelona side on their home turf. However the one goal advantage will give us a huge morale boost to see if we can be one of those few teams and this night has secured our first ever victory over our 'big brothers/cousins' and, regardless of what happens in the second leg, we can forever be proud of what we achieved and cherish the night of 16.2.11, when we beat, undoubtedly, the best team in the world at their own game.

It also bodes well for us that we have a Carling Cup final looming as this victory will no doubt instill all kinds of hope in the team. The players of the game for me, were Koscielny and Wilshere. Despite Fabregas not having one of his best nights he still played a vital role in the team as did Nasri and the ever surging forward, Walcott. The performance is incredibly encouraging, but Fabregas said it well when he said that it's only half time. Now we have to go to Barcelona and outplay them at the Nou Camp, no mean feat to achieve. At least now we have a stepping stone to help us try and achieve that dream.