Arsenal Outplayed & Dominated by Relentless Barca

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Barcelona achieved 76% of possession against Arsenal. Need I continue?

When Barcelona have the ball and keep it, which they do tenaciously and in apparent ease, the opposition has very little chance of getting anything from the game. Arsenal attempted not a single shot on target. Not one. The utter dominance of Barcelona in all areas of the pitch meant that the absence of their two centre halves, Puyol and Pique was irrelevant in an easy win for the classy Spanish side (I use classy very loosely with Dani Alves, but more on that later).

Arsenal may say that they were hard done by, with a red card brandished to the hard of hearing Rob van Persie early in the second half as he shot wide after the whistle had gone for offside. His pleas that he could not hear the whistle due to the 95,000 screaming fans - a good defence - fell on deaf ears, and the referee decided to show the second yellow in an extremely harsh move which all but ended any fair competitiveness in the painfully one sided match.
Van Persie complained after the match of his red card:

"I think it was a total joke. How can I hear his whistle with 95,000 people jumping up? How can I hear it? Please explain that?"

"I can't understand the view from the ref. One second from his whistle to my shot is a joke. He has been bad all evening. He was against us. I don't know why he was here tonight, it's a joke.

"We feel betrayed, almost. We tried really hard. When it was 1-1 it was all to play for. But, in my opinion, the ref killed the game."

Even so, Arsenal were being controlled, pinned back, outplayed before the sending off, and if anything, Arsenal spent more time in the Barcelona half after the Dutchman's sending off. It was simply a story of the better side winning; I have never seen a game so one sided in possession and chances in the Champions League.

The first goal was inevitable. Wojciech Sczcesny went off early on after his first save of the game injured his finger. Almunia came on, and had a good game - probably Arsenal's best player, but he could do nothing to stop Messi from dinking the ball over him and swiping it into the back of the net for the opener.

In between the action, there was the odd pathetic dive. Diving infuriates me beyond belief, the replays shown on Sky making my fists clench in anger and jaw tighten in utter fury. Although so many footballers are at fault in this department, Dani Alves is one that so many times throws himself to the floor, clutching some part of his body - any part of his body all to con the referee. He gets away with it too. Maddening.

Arsenals goal was scored by Busquets - from a Nasri corner. Perhaps he felt sorry for them, wanted to give them a fighting chance - something to work with and hold on to. Probably not. But for all the intricate passing from Barcelona, their beautiful football was countered by a simple ball into the box, headed into their own net by their own player. A little ironic.

But Barcelona fought back with their wonderful football. Intricate passing, great vision, umarkable movement, all leavin Arsenal defenders on their rear ends, as the tricks and turns left them flat footed. Carved open, Xavi passed the ball into the net, as if it were his team mate, and wheeled away, jubilant. Onto the third.

The Arsenal box was occupied so often by Barcelona, and so it was only a matter of time before someone went down and won a penalty. To my diving hating relief, it was a penalty, fairly awarded for a Koscielny tackle which brought down the Barca player with a late, trailing leg. Messi duly stroked it artistically home, and the game was won.

The deserved winners march on in the competition, leaving Arsenal licking their wounds in preparation for a crucial clash with Manchester United in a far more winnable FA Cup tie. Time to pick themselves up and push on.

Watch: Barcelona 3 - 1 Arsenal (4 - 3)

Arsenal were well and truly beaten tonight against a relentless and mercilessly attacking Barcelona.
Full Match Report Here

Barcelona 1 - 0 Arsenal [Messi]

Barcelona 1 - 1 Arsenal [Pedro OG]

    Barcelona 2 - 1 Arsenal [Xavi]

Barcelona 3 - 1 Arsenal [Messi]

Wilshere Admirers Grow by the Day

Jack Wilshere told of the best week of his life after Arsenal's win against Barcelona at the Emirates, and as his excellent performances become an ever frequent feature at the North London club, his fans, admirers, supporters, followers - call them what you like - increase by the day. No-one can doubt his obvious quality, skill and footballing artistry, and in such a young player it is very rare to see such natural ability so perhaps it is unsurprising that praise for him is not in short supply.

The most recent to heap praise on the 19 year-old is Barcelona's manager, Pep Guardiola. The manager, who has led Barcelona to eight trophies since taking over in 2008, is about to sign a contract extension at his club. Speculation had begun however, as to whether Guardiola may try to sign Wilshere for Barca in light of his brilliant performance against his side. The 40 year-old moved to rubbish the rumours, but not before adding his compliments to the players growing number of them:

"He [Wilshere] is a great player - a great player for Arsenal and in any case, Arsene Wenger doesn't sell his best players."

He continued to praise Arsenal:

"Arsenal are a wonderful side. You will not hear me discredit Arsenal - they are a great side with a great coach and they will be a very difficult opponent. It will be a great game against a great team."

His own manager has nothing but good to say about Wilshere. Arsene Wenger likened his playing style to that of Spanish players while applauding how he plays unworried and unfazed by his surroundings and occasion:

"He has a Spanish technique certainly, yes. He has an English heart because he's an English boy.

"He takes everything at the moment with a cool head, that's what I like. At his age you want to play and play again and show what you are. What I like as well is he isn't fazed by the occasion; he's not inhibited and just plays free off his chest which is fantastic."

Meanwhile his team mates, both club and country have told how they love to play with him. Fellow Arsenal midfielder Alex Song called him an "unbelievable young player" and he s "very happy to play alongside him". Song said Wilshere "always want to listen and learn" an invaluable quality in young players.
Wayne Rooney, who has had the privilege of playing with Wilshere for England and will undoubtedly do so in he future too, said after Wilshere's first start for England:

"I thought Jack Wilshere did really well. He is really composed on the ball and really good to play with. You can see the potential he has got."

Chelsea's Frank Lampard echoed Rooney's comments:

"We have learned that Wilshere can come in and continue showing the composure he plays with for Arsenal. Credit to him on his full debut because it isn't easy, but he is only going to get better and better now.

The media have given Wilshere rave reviews after watching his performance very closely, and he has been compared to the likes of Manchester United legend Paul Scholes, Wilshere's Arsenal team mate Cesc Fabregas, and the two Spanish central midfielders Xavi and Iniesta. He is a superb player, and one with a fantastic future. If he continues to improve and showcase his excellent performances on footballs biggest stages, there will be little doubt that in the future, up and coming quality players will be compared to Wilshere himself.


With the Nou Camp coming up, he will have possibly the biggest stage in world football to pull Arsenal through to the final stages of the Champions League.

Fabregas: Wilshere was Scared to ask Messi to Swap Shirts

Despite being probably the best player on the pitch, which held the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Fabregas, Nasri and David Villa, Jack Wilshere was apparently too scared to ask Lionel Messi for his shirt after the game between Arsenal and Barcelona. 

The Arsenal captain, Cesc Fabregas, tweeted Wilshere saying:

"can't believe i had to go to get Messi's shirt for u. U were so scared. You were MOTM [Man of the match] so next time please ask urself!"

In the end, Wilshere walked away with both Messi's and Xavi's shirts, and tweeted a picture of him [Right] and his dad holding the precious items which hold such significance to the young man early in his career.
He said:

"Morning tweeps. You will like this one. Me and my dad with Messi and Xavi's shirt after the game."

Wilshere was praised by his manager Arsene Wenger as outstanding after the Champions League clash, saying that the young midfielder was unfazed by the quality that surrounded him. After all, he will be - if not already - as good, if not better than the players he was up against. Wilshere is an outstanding and rare English talent and Arsenal are lucky to have such a down to earth, footballing man, who plays football so well - the heartbeat of the Arsenal midfield at times.

After the game, Wilshere was ecstatic:

"It's been a great couple of weeks - the best of my life.

Arsenal 2 - 1 Barcelona: Brilliant Comeback Does Gunners Proud

When Arsenal went behind to a David Villa goal, it looked as if some impressive Arsenal play would count for absolutely nothing as Barcelona looked to keep possession and settle, as they capably do, with the 0 - 1 result. They may not have expected then, that Arsenal, in front of their brilliantly supportive fans who stayed on their side all night would bravely fight back for a memorable win at the Emirates - their first ever win against Barcelona.

It is hard to pick out an Arsenal player who had a bad game. Every one of them did themselves proud, with the young Jack Wilshere doing particularly magnificently among some of the greatest central midfielders on the planet. He was brilliant at knocking the ball around as well as getting out of some tricky and tight situations, portraying a footballing age years beyond his own 19.

The Arsenal defence, often questioned and exposed as their main weakness, was resilient and made very few mistakes - only falling asleep a couple of times, with only one of those instances being punished. Koscielny was very good at the back and coped with the explosive attack of Barca very well.

The game was a fantastic spectacle, and it did fly by, with the football from both sides being typically technically wonderful, and at times was end to end football. The entertaining game was constantly competitive, with Arsenal being spurred on by their excellent fans who played a very big part in the comeback, giving the players the belief that they needed to pick themselves up after some rocky spells.

A blasted Van Persie shot from an impossible angle caught Victor Valdes on his near post as he occupied himself with the prospect of a flashed cross. The Dutch striker caught everyone out with the shot, and it took a moment to sink in for the fans that the back of the net was bulging.

Five minutes later, and the breathtaking comeback was complete with an Andrei Arshavin winner. He popped off the bench late on and in a counter attack which saw the surprise starter Samir Nasri (after injury) roll it back almost in slow motion, the little Russian stroked the ball past Valdes for a second time. He wheeled away to the delight of the Arsenal fans who mustn't have believed the astonishing sight, as Barcelona players held their heads in their hands.

Arsenal should enjoy it while they can. Yes, they have beaten one of the best teams in the world for the first time in Barcelona. Yes, they showed excellent character to come back from behind. Yes they take a lead into the second leg. But, the second leg will be far higher task for them to complete. The atmosphere will be hostile, the players will be up for it, and Arsenal will be desperate to cling on to their win.

It would be absolutely fantastic for English football and Arsenal if they could pull off an aggregate win over Barcelona at Camp Nou. But it will be, as they undoubtedly know, a very tough task. Even if they do not, they can take great solace in the fact that they have improved from last year and shown great character to come from behind and win. They should use this as a spring board for better things, and finally come of age.

Nasri Could Miss Barca Game but Wenger Won't Buy

Samir Nasri has been Arsenal's best player this season, so Wenger must have been feeling his compatriots pain when the 23 year-old midfielder pulled up with a hamstring injury against Huddersfield in the F.A Cup. After chasing a long ball from the returning Almunia, Nasri pulled up, and every Arsenal fans' breath was held, hoping that it would be nothing serious, and Nasri would be back to terrorise the opposition defence in a couple of short minutes. But it won't be minutes that Arsenal will have to wait for Nasri's return, it will be weeks.

Wenger had risked Nasri for the game, and now admits his regret at doing so, as it looks as if the injury could rule Nasri out for the next thee weeks - that is including Arsenal's massive clash with Spanish giants Barcelona. But will Wenger buy a replacement for Nasri in the remaining day of the transfer window? Take a guess.

The Arsenal manager was reluctant to predict when Nasri would return, but had a go nevertheless:

"Nasri looks to have a serious hamstring injury. Usually it is three weeks. We have to see if it is a grade 1, it will be two weeks, so we will see. It is very difficult to predict.

"I have now regrets because the plan was to play Rosicky, but he was still too weak because he was sick, so I took the gamble on Nasri. It backfired, but he could have come on and that happened as well.

“We are at the stage of the season where we play so many games that to lose bodies is very difficult for us. But Samir is a big blow."

Arsenal play Barcelona on the 16th February, which means that if Nasri recovers in two weeks, he could play some part at least in the Champions League match. However, if it is three weeks out that Nasri must suffer, he will certainly miss Arsenal's biggest test of the season. It is so unlucky for Arsenal that the player who has been in such fantastically blistering form this season is the one who could miss the match that he could make such a difference in, and showcase his skills against the likes of Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and so on.

A familiar quote that passes Wengers lips nowadays is:

"No, we will not sign anyone."  

He has said it again.
Instead of splashing the cash on a player like Eden Hazard who has expressed his desire to play for Arsenal, Wenger will recall Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Henri Lansbury, who are currently on loan spells. This could irritate those Arsenal fans becoming more and more frustrated by the lack of movement in the transfer window, especially considering the big games coming up as Arsenal challenge for both the Premier League and Champions League in the next few games or so.


The calmer Arsenal fans with more faith in Wenger will once again respect his decision not to sign anyone in the January transfer window, and happily see the younger players step up and help to take on the big teams. Wenger has never been one for a knee-jerk reaction, but we will have to wait and see if his patience and relaxed attitude towards transfers pays off against such a good side in Barcelona without their top player in Nasri.

Lionel Messi to Inter?

The Inter Milan owner, Massimo Moratti has claimed that he may hold talks with Barcelona over the availability of arguably the best player in the world, in their star player, Lionel Messi.

He said:

"[Lionel] Messi? Everyone asks me to buy a strong player. He is the strongest of all. So I'm starting to ask me the question.

And I still have not answered neither 'yes' nor 'no'. On Sunday, I jokingly said that I would bring Messi to Inter.

But we could only really talk about it with Barcelona. Let's see what happens in the coming days."

If Inter were seriously going to have to have any chance of prising theArgentinian away from Camp Nou, then they would have to b prepared to pay a massive sum of money to both the club, and Messi himself. Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for £70 million to Real Madrid - a world record fee, and it is widely regarded that Messi is as good if not better than the Portugese record breaker.

Messi seems very happy at Barcelona, and has had a lot of success at the Spanish club, so why would he want to change his magnificent routine? There are very few reasons why a player would want to leave Barcelona during such a succesful period whilst playing alongside brilliant players such as Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol - the list goes on. Maybe he just wants a change? Rafael Benitez would certainly welcome the player to Inter Milan.