Arsenal vs Barcelona a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
February 24, 2016
1,817 Views
- Barcelona ran out winners in the end but for Arsenal they will look back and think what might have been
- Arsenal contained Barcelona and for periods of the game were on top but failed to take their chances when they had Luis Enrique’s side on the ropes
- Alexis Sanchez started brightly with obviously a point to prove against his former club
- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had the most guilt edged chance halfway through the first half but could only stab his shot straight at Marc-Andre ter Stegen
- The Gunners were certainly the livelier of the two sides in the first half with the home fans actually making the ground a rare cauldron of noise
- Although they were on top in terms of chances they could have still gone behind just before the break but Luis Suarez headed his effort just past the post
- Barcelona looked livelier after the break and raised their tempo but still Arsenal managed to contain them with what looked a resolute performance
- Again Arsenal had probably the better of the chances after the break with Oliver Giroud’s header again well saved by ter Stegen to keep the game scoreless
- The game did start to get a little niggly in the second half and it seemed as if Arsenal had Barcelona in their pocket and were starting to frustrate them
- But if Arsenal played excellent for 70 Minutes, the last 20 was there undoing
- Barcelona finally turned the screw and a breakaway led to them going in front, end to end in just 16 seconds. A sucker punch for Arsenal, a crucial away goal for Barcelona
- A blistering move involving the MSN trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez it was Barcelona at their blistering best
- The night then went from bad to worse for Arsenal. Mathieu Flamini who was on the pitch for less than a minute felled Messi with a clumsy challenge and the diminutive Argentine stepped himself to double Barcelona’s advantage and put them well in the driving seat for the 2nd leg
- It could have been even worse for Arsenal as they seemingly fell to pieces late on
- They have the woodwork after Luis Suarez hit a post and Petr Cech after saving a late Neymar header to thank to keep the score respectable and give them some slight hope of progressing to the Quarter Finals
- Arsenal will come away with some credit for their performance but they need to learn to sustain that level of performance for the whole game especially against such ruthless opposition
- For Arsene Wenger though it looks set to be another Round of 16 stage failure, the 6th in a row now. The cycle of qualification and first knockout round exit seems to be in full swing again
- As for Barcelona on this form you really wouldn’t put it past them going on to be the first team to retain the Champions League later on this season
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Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
At least the performance was certainly an improvement over the last few years for Arsenal in the opening leg, ironically Arsenal have more hope of beating Barcelona this year then Monaco last year after the first game! Who’d have thought that!
I think Oxlade-Chamberlain’s miss was a pivotal moment. If you’re containing Barcelona and arguably in the first half hour on top, you’ve really got to take chances like his.
A huge opportunity wasted and Barcelona punished you later on. The last 20 minutes were incredibly costly, credit where credit’s due but a frustrating night for Arsenal.
It’s like having Floyd Mayweather dazed and not being able to land the knockout punch