Arsène Wenger received two knives to the heart, courtesy of Lionel Messi, as the Gunners went down 0-2 at home to the maestros of Barcelona in this Champions League first leg tie.
Nevertheless it was, for the most part, a disciplined performance from Wenger’s men who fought valiantly and had almost as many attempts on goal as their illustrious opponents; and the result could have been very different had their attacking efforts been more incisive.
In fact, for 71 minutes the Arsenal players accomplished their boss’s tactical aim of containing Barcelona by effectively isolating the most prolific strike force in the world, defending collectively, harrying their opponents constantly when not in possession, and launching swift and penetrative attacks of their own.
In the first half, a tireless Aaron Ramsey saw a shot blocked by Mascherano, with Pique going on to snuff out a Mesut Özil effort, before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scooped a sure-fire chance straight into the arms of Barca keeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen on 22 minutes.
In the second half, Arsenal started with even more confidence, sensing Barcelona’s growing frustration as the Spanish champions complained to the ref over every tough challenge and failed to find a way through the Gunners sturdy set up.
And when Giroud stepped up and aimed a towering header at the Barca goal, it looked as though Arsenal could cause an upset. But the effort was clawed away by ter Stegen.
Inevitably perhaps, with less than 20 minutes of the game remaining, a brief loss of concentration following a Gunners offensive attack saw the so-called MSN strike force of Messi, Suarez and Neymar do what they do best. A stunning counter attack involving all three South Americans culminated in Messi taking one touch before sweeping the ball past Cech for the first time.
Then, 12 minutes later, with his first touch of the game, Arsenal substitute Flamini brought down Messi in the box with a misjudged challenge, and the Argentinian converted the penalty for his eighth goal against Arsenal in the Champions League.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, as reported by The Guardian, Wenger bemoaned his team’s naivety and lack of composure in front of goal.
He said: “We just gave it away. I feel we are extremely guilty and we have no excuse for that goal. We knew that if we have to keep a 0-0, we keep a 0-0.”
He added: “I think Barcelona are the best team in Europe but I felt there was room to beat them – that’s my biggest regret. Maybe we felt we could win the game and we lost a little bit of our cautiousness to defend. We knew not to give them a counterattack. That’s when they are most dangerous.”
Arsenal now face an uphill battle to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League. But they can take enough positives from this performance to scotch suggestions the return leg at the Nou Camp in three weeks’ time will be a simple formality for the current champions.
Arsenal Player Ratings (Out of Ten)
Petr Cech 8, Hector Bellerin 7.5, Per Mertesacker 6, Laurent Koscielny 7, Nacho Monreal 7.5,
Francis Coquelin 7, Aaron Ramsey 7.5, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 5.5, Mesut Özil 6.5,
Alexis Sanchez 6, Olivier Giroud 6
Subs:
Theo Walcott 6 (for Oxlade- Chamberlain 50mins), Danny Welbeck 7 (for Giroud 72mins),
Mathieu Flamini 5 (for Coquelin 82mins).
Not used: Ospina, Gibbs, Chambers, Campbell.