Gunners fight back to deny Barcelona
Source: Agencies |
February 18, 2011, Friday
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BARCELONA suffered a 1-2 defeat at Arsenal and AS Roma's miserable run continued with a 2-3 home loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in Champions League last-16 first-round matches on Wednesday.
The obituaries had been written all around the Emirates Press box as Barcelona handed the hosts, the best passing team in England, a lesson in how it really should be done.
Statistics in football can be misleading, as Wednesday's result clearly showed, but Barcelona's total of 629 passes was more than double its opponents, with Xavi stroking 109 on his own at an 88 percent completion rate.
As the ball fizzed mesmerically around the perfect playing surface, Arsenal's players were left chasing shadows and their fans were bemused.
"Isn't that what we do to other teams?," they were thinking as the likes of Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere battled for a toe-hold against a midfield of World Cup winners.
Amid the myriad quick-fire exchanges there were deadly through balls, one of which by Lionel Messi sent David Villa through for the opening goal after 26 minutes.
Barca could have had more but, just as last year when it allowed a 2-0 lead to slip to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the teams' quarterfinal meeting, it gradually lost momentum and the passes became more lateral.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had been expecting just that pattern in the last-16 first-leg match.
"We had prepared mentally to live with that domination. Usually we have the ball more than our opponent but we were prepared for them to have it 60 percent tonight," he said. "We were exposed many times by their possession but we stayed strong and I hoped they would drop off.
"Then we had to take the gamble, we needed to score two goals, but it could have backfired."
Wenger sent on Andrei Arshavin for Alex Song after 68 minutes and Nicklas Bendtner for Theo Walcott but the game still looked to be heading only one way.
Robin van Persie changed everything, however, when, from a position of little obvious danger, he lashed in the 78th-minute equalizer through the tiniest gap at Victor Valdes' near-post.
Barcelona, unfazed, continued to press but five minutes later Arsenal broke from its own box. A terrific ball by Fabregas sent Nasri free down the right and Arshavin arrived to sweep in his pull-back and turn the game on its head.
Barca coach Pep Guardiola was rendered almost speechless by the turnaround.
"How to analyze that? In the end that result isn't too bad but we dominated the game really," he said.
"We created a lot of chances so I'm happy with the performance, we just needed to convert them. Arsenal have been playing well in Europe and they always compete well so you have to congratulate them. But I'm confident about the return leg. My guys have shown their quality before over the years."
The obituaries had been written all around the Emirates Press box as Barcelona handed the hosts, the best passing team in England, a lesson in how it really should be done.
Statistics in football can be misleading, as Wednesday's result clearly showed, but Barcelona's total of 629 passes was more than double its opponents, with Xavi stroking 109 on his own at an 88 percent completion rate.
As the ball fizzed mesmerically around the perfect playing surface, Arsenal's players were left chasing shadows and their fans were bemused.
"Isn't that what we do to other teams?," they were thinking as the likes of Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere battled for a toe-hold against a midfield of World Cup winners.
Amid the myriad quick-fire exchanges there were deadly through balls, one of which by Lionel Messi sent David Villa through for the opening goal after 26 minutes.
Barca could have had more but, just as last year when it allowed a 2-0 lead to slip to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the teams' quarterfinal meeting, it gradually lost momentum and the passes became more lateral.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had been expecting just that pattern in the last-16 first-leg match.
"We had prepared mentally to live with that domination. Usually we have the ball more than our opponent but we were prepared for them to have it 60 percent tonight," he said. "We were exposed many times by their possession but we stayed strong and I hoped they would drop off.
"Then we had to take the gamble, we needed to score two goals, but it could have backfired."
Wenger sent on Andrei Arshavin for Alex Song after 68 minutes and Nicklas Bendtner for Theo Walcott but the game still looked to be heading only one way.
Robin van Persie changed everything, however, when, from a position of little obvious danger, he lashed in the 78th-minute equalizer through the tiniest gap at Victor Valdes' near-post.
Barcelona, unfazed, continued to press but five minutes later Arsenal broke from its own box. A terrific ball by Fabregas sent Nasri free down the right and Arshavin arrived to sweep in his pull-back and turn the game on its head.
Barca coach Pep Guardiola was rendered almost speechless by the turnaround.
"How to analyze that? In the end that result isn't too bad but we dominated the game really," he said.
"We created a lot of chances so I'm happy with the performance, we just needed to convert them. Arsenal have been playing well in Europe and they always compete well so you have to congratulate them. But I'm confident about the return leg. My guys have shown their quality before over the years."
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