Barcelona 3 Arsenal 1: RvP Sees Red as Blaugrana Dominate To Knock Out Gunners
By: Sairax | March 8th, 2011
Another year. Another trip to Camp Nou. Another stinging defeat. It doesn’t get any easier. It really doesn’t. I felt so awful after last year’s tie, but I think I feel worse this time. I’m trying my best to suck it up and get on with it though, but apologies in advance if I get a bit rambly.
Let’s jump right into the first 45 minutes. We had 0 shots to Barcelona’s 8 and salvaged just 25% possession. That about sums it up right there. From the first minute we were on the back foot. Barcelona started to pressurize and swarm us while we hung on and played the offside trap as suicidally as possible. Clichy took about 1 minute before clattering into Xavi near the touchline. Pedro wasted no time in getting behind our defenders, but Kos got back to clear. His first clearance of many. A lot of the play was condensed in the middle third of the pitch because both teams were playing such a high line, but it was Barca who were enjoying possession and trying to find ways of breaching our defense. We managed to play them offside several times, but we couldn’t find a way through either with Nasri and RvP finding themselves in offside positions as well. Adriano was enjoying plenty of space out wide and managed to cross a great ball in for Villa, but he couldn’t get on the end of it. Nerve-wracking stuff.
After a quarter of an hour, we almost shot ourselves in the foot when Djourou cleared straight to Messi. You know him. The one who’s been scoring like mental all season. Luckily for us, Jack and Kos were there to clean up the mess. It was all very last-ditch, our defending. Kos picked up the first yellow of the night shortly after, which meant he would be walking on thin ice for the majority of the game. We gave up the free kick, which Alves hammered straight to Szczesny. Of course, Szczesny got injured. It just wouldn’t have felt right if one of our players didn’t go off injured would it? It looks like he injured a tendon in his finger and could be out for the rest of the season. Wonderful. Almunia came on for our Pole in goal and I was fearing the worst.
Barcelona didn’t let up. Every loose ball and every stray pass we made were tidily picked up by one of the Barcelona players who looked to push forward again. We couldn’t get the ball. When we did, our passing was woeful. When Szczesny was still on the pitch, he was hoofing it upfield to Valdes on the other side. Were we parking the bus? I still doubt we can even do that effectively. No doubt we were defending most of the time, but when you’re being suffocated by the Blaugrana, it’s kind of difficult to get anything going. I think that we were being so poor in midfield that we just tried to get it forward at times and it wasn’t working at all. Either we would be offside, or a Barcelona player would regain possession in an instant and take off before we knew what happened.
At the same time, we were being whistled any time we even got near a Barcelona player. The only time they didn’t get a whistle was when Messi was fouled on the edge of the box. Some thought it was a penalty, but I think it was more a free kick. The Barcelona players made it easier for the calls to be made considering they went down every time contact was made. Alves took down Nasri with a scissor tackle, but no foul was called. Meanwhile, we had Sagna join Kos in the referees book. It was tough for our players and we didn’t look like we were going to come out of this game unscathed. Barcelona kept attacking, but none of their attempts on goal were particularly threatening. They passed it around with ease and stayed patient until they saw something open up. All they needed was that one chance though, and we would be toast.
The Blaugrana got another look-in when Iniesta opened things up with a lovely diagonal that just about missed everyone and allowed Almunia to collect. Pedro got in a cross with no one on the end of it and Messi went on a couple of little romps to break open our backline. Adriano, again in tons of space, smacked one off the bar. The scoreline stayed nil-nil, but you wondered how we were even hanging on. Our attacking threat was non-existant and you wonder if we were just trying to absorb the pressure until halftime. A terrible idea, in my opinion, since I don’t think we’ve ever successfully pulled that off. Also, if we had tried harder to get an early goal, it would have helped us tremendously and perhaps settled our nerves a bit. Nearing the end of the half, we somehow got a corner, but hardly anyone was there to capitalize. Dire stuff indeed.
Remember all of those niggly fouls we kept getting called for? I think it was getting to the players’ heads unfortunately. Jack was down holding his leg and was taking too much time getting off according to the Barcelona players. There was some chest-bumping, nothing too bad, but you could tell tensions were rising. Jack came back on as the half went into extra time and the next thing you knew, RvP had shoved Alves and got himself booked. Stupid really, and totally unnecessary. We see this in the league where the opposition tries to rile us up in some way or the other and we end up taking the bait and getting booked. This was pretty similar. At the same time, Abidal had put his hand on van Persie’s throat. How he was not sent off, or at least shown a yellow, is beyond me. Those extra officials would have been handy at that moment. The awfulness of the first half finished off, fittingly enough, with a total cock up that saw Cesc bafflingly back heel the ball about two feet away from our penalty area. Then, he ended up pulling out of a challenge on Iniesta to recover the ball and the next thing you knew, we were down one-nil. Iniesta played Messi in beautifully who stuck it in the back of the net with ease. We were so close. Now we really needed to score in order to have any hope of advancing. We had to try attacking in the second half and at least go out swinging.
Halftime Stats (from Orbinho): Barcelona v Arsenal
Shots 8-0; On target 4-0
Fouls 4-10
Duels Won 57%-43%
Passing accuracy 89%-70%
Possession 75%-25%
I’d really like to block out the second half from my memory because it was worse than the first. I didn’t even think that was possible before it started, but it definitely felt worse. We started off with a small glimmer with Diaby on the break. As usual though, it came to nothing. Then there was just a barrage of chances for Barcelona from what I can remember. Messi was just charging his way past our players and really trying to force his way through. Xavi had a dink here and there, lobbing the ball over and slicing us open. Almunia was on his game and made some very good saves to hold them off. Djourou and Kos were throwing themselves at the ball to protect our goal.
Finally came a point in the game that gave us all a bit of hope that kills us all every day as an Arsenal fan. Nasri made a great run down the left hand side, holding off Alves along the way. He earned a corner that he took himself. He delivered a fine ball into the box and Busquets got over everyone and headed it into his own net. Arsenal hadn’t had one shot all game, let alone one on target, and suddenly we were ahead on aggregate. It was that bit of luck that you thought would be what would lift us to see out the game. If we managed to score another, it really would have been made things more difficult for Barcelona, but we had one. This meant that we still had a chance.
We were holding off the Barcelona attack as best as we could and that kept us in the game. That, and Barcelona seemed to have Arsenalitis where they just couldn’t finish off their chances. We weren’t comfortable, but we were hanging on as best we could and slowly growing into the game. Then it all went to pieces. RvP, showing some more of that attacking intent that we were at least trying in the second half, was caught offside as he made his way towards the Barca goal. The referee’s whistle blew, but Robin went ahead and tried the shot anyway. I think it may have been a second or two between the whistle and the shot, but I am not certain. The referee was not having any of it and he gave van Persie his second yellow and sent him off. If RvP could have avoided the first yellow, maybe he would still be on the pitch, but you have to say that sending him off was harsh. I don’t know if van Persie deliberately shot even after hearing the whistle, but he was insistent that he could not hear because of the thousands of shouting fans in the stadium. The ref was unsympathetic and there we were, in the 56th minute, down to 10 men. I think any chance we had of going through went out the window in that moment. It didn’t take long until Barcelona found their second goal of the night. They were really taking it to us, firing in shots when they could, and we were just clearing it and making as many last-ditch tackles as it took. We couldn’t hold out forever and Xavi made the scoreline 2-1 to the home team. Arsenal’s hopes were fading.
At this point we could have gone into extra time and penalties, but with 10 men it was always going to be unlikely. One more goal for the Gunners would have forced Barcelona into trying to score at least 4 goals, so it wasn’t all over. Those were the thoughts in my head for two whole minutes. It was only two minutes because Kos conceded a penalty to Barcelona. It was a penalty for sure and Messi tucked it away coolly to put Barca up 3-1 at the Camp Nou. And yet. One more goal and Arsenal were through. Could we pull it off? Wenger brought on Arshavin for Rosicky who had been pretty useless the whole match. Arshavin looked lively as he combined with Nasri and Wilshere, but Barcelona were just swarming us to get the ball back and we found it difficult to get another chance. Fabregas was taken off for Bendtner in a last effort to salvage something from the game. Barcelona were running rings around us, but you never know right? A stroke of luck and we could be in. Our goals at the Emirates came late in games, usually because of our ability to counter with pace when our opponents looked tired. It looked like our chance had come in the 87th minute. After withstanding another torrent of Barcelona strikes and tiki-taka keep-away, little Jacky-boy, who had been busting a gut the whole game, found himself up the pitch and delivered a ball into Bendtner’s path. With Mascherano on his butt and Valdes in front of him, a bit of composure and a touch away from the defender could have seen Nick through on goal. That isn’t what ended up happening. Bendtner’s touch let him down and he directed it more towards Valdes who scooped up the ball and averted the danger. That was the chance. That was the second where you wondered what van Persie would have done and if we could have scored to send us through, even though we had been thoroughly outplayed. It was not meant to be. The score was 3-1 to send Barcelona to the quarterfinals. Arsenal were knocked out by the beastly Blaugrana and left with one less opportunity to get some silverware.
Fulltime Stats (from Orbinho) Barcelona v Arsenal:
Shots 20-0; On target 12-0
Fouls 8-19
Duels Won 59%-41%
Passing accuracy 90%-72%
Possession 76%-24%
Player Ratings:
Szczesny 6 Went off injured after making a save in only his second ever Champions League appearance. You have to feel for him. He was good between the sticks, but he could have done better picking out one of our players when hoofing it up the pitch.
Sagna 6 Not his best game defensively or offensively. I think he may have deflected Xavi’s goal into the net as well.
Koscielny 7 Another good game where he showed great anticipation and intercepted well at times. Gave away the penalty and could have been given a second yellow with some of the fouls he was making, but overall he did the best he could.
Djourou 7 He came up big today. Our backline was severely tested today and Djourou handled the majority of it really well. Stayed strong and wasn’t easily rattled. His passing from the back wasn’t great though.
Clichy 5 Clichy really struggled tonight. A lot of Barcelona’s attacks were coming down his side, particularly in the first half, and that probably wasn’t coincidence. Never easy to muzzle the likes of Messi, Villa, or Pedro, but he really couldn’t get a handle on things today.
Wilshere 6.5 Bloody hell, Jack. You never gave up for a second. He got back to help out defensively and wasn’t ready to take a beating lying down. He wasn’t enjoying much going forward, but his efforts at trying to keep us going for the whole match are not to be overlooked.
Fabregas 3 The Newcastle game at the Emirates early this season was one of the worst games he’s ever played in an Arsenal shirt. Now he has this gem of a performance to add to that one. Completely anonymous and wasn’t keeping things simple in the midfield. Gifted Barcelona possession in the worst place at the worst time for them to go on and score. Possible that he was struggling with a hamstring injury during the match, but Captain Fantastic was missing today, unfortunately.
Diaby 3 I’ve never been more convinced that Diaby doesn’t have the mental strength to get us through a game like this. He just reinforced my opinion that he is not a big game player. Loads of skill and talent, but sorely lacking leadership qualities and a headstrong, winning mentality.
Rosicky 4 He played today?
Nasri 7 I saw him getting back to help defend many times. He has to be careful going too deep because he was very close to playing opposition onside a few times. We wouldn’t have got the goal if it wasn’t for him. He tried, bless, and was the only one who troubled Barcelona’s defense at all (and I’m using the word “troubled” very generously)
van Persie 5 Dude, you gotta learn to control your temper. Did us no favours with that first booking, which contributed to his sending off. We really needed him to keep his cool. You’re pissed off, Robin? Get some revenge by scoring a goal. Otherwise, knuckle down and help the team get through this.
Subs:
Almunia7.5 MOTM The “Spanish Waiter” who has been subject of my annoyed rants on many occasions came up big today. He made some great saves (and got kicked in the head doing it) and looked calm in goal. Fair play to Almunia. I didn’t think he could do too much about the goals. Even if he could have, we can’t expect him to save everything when being under so much pressure at times. He’ll get no jibes coming from me today, I thought he was great.
Arshavin 6 Better as an attacking threat than Rosicky, but nothing substantial produced in the end.
Bendtner N/A He had a one-on-one. He had that chance to put us through. He could have been a hero and sent us through. Didn’t happen.
What can I say? We were thoroughly outplayed today, no question. Were we trying to be defensive? Or was it just that Barcelona were too damn good? I think we were overwhelmed today by a superior opponent. Hats off to Barcelona. I don’t think I’ll ever see a team play better football if I live to be one hundred. Even being the lesser team, you’d have to think we had a chance, albeit a slight and improbable one. I didn’t think we’d win, but a draw wouldn’t have been crazy. Personally, I would have taken the 3-2 loss in a heartbeat. We needed some luck to go our way if it was going to happen for us tonight, but it didn’t. I thought the referee was extremely strict and blew for fouls that were either not fouls, or were really soft fouls. Perhaps I’ve just been watching the Premier League too long since you have to shoot someone before hearing a whistle, whereas we picked up 4 yellows and a red today. I guess that’s just how they roll in Europe (could you imagine playing Stoke with this ref?) Anyway, I’m gutted. It was a completely demoralizing experience for me, and I just hope it doesn’t have the same effect on the players. When the whistle blew, you could tell they were absolutely exhausted. They gave everything with their effort and energy, just not so much with actual skill and technique. We didn’t play our game. We weren’t allowed to play our game. In that respect, you just kind of have to hold your hands up and say Barcelona were fantastic. Before today’s game, we had scored 20 goals in Champions League this season, more than any other club. We didn’t get one shot today. Not shot on goal. One shot. We’ve played a lot of games this season and our boys are under a lot of pressure to win something. Facing Barcelona so early was always going to be a mountain to climb. Finishing second in our group was really where we screwed up. We can’t change it now though. Like most people said to me before the game, it’s best to go out now while it’s still early and we have a chance to focus on the league. That could still be a possibility this season as long as we don’t allow ourselves to collapse in the way we have been prone to do in the last few seasons. It really is a horrible way to go out of a competition, being battered by such a strong team. I can’t help but think we could have played better. Right now, I just want to move on from this as quickly as possible because we have to go to Old Trafford in a few days. The chances we had today, we didn’t take, which was most disappointing. We can say we are a better team this year. That I think we can see when we look at our overall season. We can even point to our win over Barcelona at the Emirates; a truly special night that we can all hold dear as fans. We won’t be winning the Champions League this year. Maybe next time.
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