This was not a bad performance from Arsenal but not bad gets you nowhere against the gold standard in world football. There were chances for Wenger’s side, even after Messi’s first goal, and they did not have the quality of player to take them. That was the difference in the end.
Barcelona’s little assassin scored goals 81 and 82 of his Champions League life and he never once looked like missing.
The second goal, the real killer blow was a dreadful sequence of errors: a short pass from Per Mertesacker in the penalty area, a bad tackle by the newly introduced substitute Mathieu Flamini on Messi and then no messing around from the Argentine from the penalty spot. There should have been more for Barca by the end, as Arsenal’s fragile confidence ebbed away.
It was a case of fighting the Barcelona machine in as many different ways as they could in the first half for Arsenal – and some worked better than others, but one thing you could say was that there was parity in the first 45 minutes. Not this time a case of the grown-ups taking control and Arsenal running around in their shadows, but a contest that had give and take on both sides.
Wenger’s players started with intensity, pressing high and chasing down any time on the ball that the Barcelona midfield tried to draw out. Later in the half, Arsenal would sit back more and cede their visitors two-thirds of the pitch at times but with their two banks behind the ball tightly drawn and allowing none of those dreaded balls in between the lines.
It meant that in the early part of the game, Messi, out on the right wing, saw little of the ball and what Barca did well was created by Neymar cutting in from the left. Arsenal had the better earlier chances but they were approached hectically and ultimately wasted. The first, an exchange between Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Özil, saw the former running in for a cutback that was too far behind him and had to be chopped at rather than stroked at goal.
The second was another case of getting the ball and lots of red shirts into the Barcelona area and picking up the loose possession. It was not as crafted as you imagine an Arsenal attack but there was plenty of determination to get on the end of it. Olivier Giroud and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain worked the opening and the ball fell to Hector Bellerín, once of Barca himself, whose shot was saved.
Who dominated at the Emirates?
When it fell to Oxlade-Chamberlain again he could not get a clean hit and by now the Barcelona shirts were converging, emergency-style, on the Arsenal man and his strike was saved comfortably by Marc ter Stegen. The thought occurred that these are the kind of chances that must be taken if one is to have any chance against Barcelona, especially at home before their big guns are warmed up and ready to fire.
They certainly were by the end of the first half but before then there was another good counterattack possibility for Arsenal on 36 minutes when Oxlade-Chamberlain carried the ball out of defence and then, with options opening as he galloped down the right, he overran it. Javier Mascherano came across to block and the opportunity disappeared.
In the meantime, Barcelona were warming to the task. There was a booking for Nacho Monreal. Neymar cut in from the right on one occasion, showed the ball to Francis Coquelin and then whipped it away before the Frenchman had worked out that it was all a cruel trick. It was Coquelin who had grabbed the sleeve of Messi’s base-layer earlier to concede a dangerous free-kick.
Any nudge on Messi, and the Barcelona players are around the referee in an instant but for their part, the home crowd were nurturing a sense of grievance which helped the atmosphere immensely. The Arsenal players were in a battle but they felt like they were standing their ground up to half-time, give or take a couple of near misses.
The first was a Messi cross from the left to Luis Suárez that was only just cut out. Then, in more time added on Suárez missed the best chance of the half. Sergio Busquets picked out the run of Dani Alves down the right channel and his cross was brilliantly turned back in first time, a cushioned volley. Suárez was close in but the goal was there to be nodded past Cech, especially for a man of Suárez’s ability. He glanced it wide.
Arsenal's attacking stats
Cech saved Arsenal in the early stages of the second half, coming out to meet Neymar when he was played in down the left channel four minutes in. Another one of those moments when to concede would have been a dreadful waste of all the hard work they had put in up until then.
Then Oxlade-Chamberlain came off with what looked like an injury and Wenger sent on Theo Walcott in his place. It meant that there was no stepping back from the attacking plan.
There were two Arsenal chances in quick succession on the hour. The first crafted by Coquelin and Özil for Giroud to meet at the near post. Then a header for Giroud from Monreal’s cross that bounced once and was bound for the bottom corner of Ter Stegen’s goal before the German dropped and flung out an arm to turn it wide.
There were periods when Arsenal had that kind of exhaustion in possession that meant when they finally won it they could not do much with it.
Yet they defended well, with Ramsey in particular blocking a Suárez shot on 66 minutes and Bellerín confident enough to slide in and take the ball away from Neymar in the penalty area.
The first goal came when Arsenal were enjoying one of their better periods. Gerard Piqué headed clear in his own area; Andrés Iniesta lunged to get the ball to Neymar and from there the picture changed dramatically. Neymar turned, found Suárez and ran on to get the ball back down the left side. By then it was chaos in the Arsenal box and when the ball was at Messi’s feet there was to be no other outcome.
Barcelona's attacking stats
Then came Flamini, and the penalty. Suárez hit the post. Neymar forced a fine save from Cech. It will be a long road back for Arsenal.
Arsenal vs Barcelona timeline February 23 2016
- Telegraph