There is no shame in being outclassed by Barcelona. The shame for Arsenal is that, on a night when they were comprehensively outplayed by the best team on the planet, their supporters left the Nou Camp bemoaning some harsh refereeing decisions and Nicklas Bendtner’s failure to grasp the opportunity that suddenly knocked with three minutes remaining.
It always hurts so much more when there is a sense of victimhood, but consider the sense of injustice that Barcelona would have felt had Bendtner not fluffed the chance. Arsenal did not muster a single shot on or off target; that Bendtner’s touch was leaden, allowing Javier Mascherano to clear the danger, merely prevented an outcome that, while gratifying to an English audience, would have had the rest of the world scratching its head.
Football is like that. The best team do not always win. But the best team won last night and over the course of this tie. That Arsenal suffered the loss of Robin van Persie to an infuriating red card at the one point when they looked buoyant, three minutes after a Sergio Busquets own goal had restored their aggregate lead, will remain a source of ire to Arsène Wenger, but he must recognise that Barcelona were not flattered by a victory that was confirmed with two goals from Lionel Messi, one of stupendous quality and the other a penalty, and one from Xavi Hernández.
Consider the following: Barcelona mustered 19 goal attempts, 12 on target and seven off, to Arsenal’s none; they enjoyed 68 per cent of the possession — and “enjoy” is certainly the right verb where Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and Messi are concerned; 85 per cent of their passes were successful, compared to Arsenal’s 59 per cent; they completed 738 passes to Arsenal’s 199; Xavi produced ten more successful passes over 90 minutes than Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, Cesc Fàbregas, Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri, Van Persie, Bendtner and Andrey Arshavin put together. So did Iniesta.
It is to Arsenal’s credit that, having spent so much of the night up against the ropes, they were still standing in the closing stages. If they led with a glass jaw at the Nou Camp last April, when they were undone by a Messi masterclass, they at least made Barcelona dig deep for the victory this time. Few teams will push them as close as this, even if an aggregate scoreline of 4-3 does not tell the whole story.
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It always felt as though this would be an evening when Arsenal had to overcome huge odds, even before they lost Wojciech Szczesny to injury early in the game. The young goalkeeper did well to hold a Daniel Alves free kick that bounced up in front of him in the sixteenth minute, but he damaged a finger in doing so and was replaced by Manuel Almunia, who had previously conceded eight goals in 250 minutes of football against Barcelona.
In front of Almunia, Arsenal’s midfield was being bypassed by Iniesta in particular, but Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny were playing above themselves. They were always stretched and there was a point in the first half when Messi waltzed around them both in the penalty area. Both, though, made important tackles at various stages to deny the Argentina forward as he was about to shoot.
After a period in which Koscielny, Bascary Sagna, Wilshere and Van Persie were booked, Arsenal seemed to have stabilised as half-time approached, but then came a counter-attack in which Iniesta burst away from Wilshere and set up Messi, who turned inside Gaël Clichy and, to the amazement of the crowd, sent his shot straight at Almunia.
Barcelona need not have worried. Two minutes later, Fàbregas conceded possession with an unusually feckless back-heel 25 yards from goal and Iniesta’s pass set up Messi, who showed wonderful technique to slice the ball over a diving Almunia in order to present himself with a tap-in. What a goal. What a player.
You feared for Arsenal at the interval, but this time capitulation was not in their thoughts. Early in the second half, Nasri embarked on a mazy run down the left and won a corner. He floated the ball towards the near post and Busquets, perhaps feeling the need to take greater responsibility as an emergency centre half, sent a header past a startled Victor Valdés.
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There was more than a glimmer of hope for Arsenal, but it was extinguished by what happened next, Van Persie racing into an offside position and shooting wide of the goal after the flag had gone up and the whistle been blown. Only the Holland forward, who had already been booked for a shove on Alves, knows if he had heard the whistle above the din of an unusually rowdy home crowd. Massimo Busacca, a fine referee who had a bad night at the office, had no intention of giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Barcelona look as though they have extra players when it is against 11 against 11, never mind when their opponents are a man down. It was a siege, Barcelona’s passing carousel spinning at a rate that Arsenal simply could not handle. Almunia made two good saves, but on 69 minutes Iniesta and David Villa combined to set up Xavi, whose shot was deflected past the goalkeeper by Sagna’s leg. Two minutes later, Pedro Rodríguez ran into the outstretched leg of Koscielny to win a penalty, converted with expertise by Messi.
By now, Barcelona had turned on the style, but there was almost a dramatic late twist. Wilshere ran clear to set up Bendtner, but the substitute’s touch was heavy and the chance passed. It was that close. It should not have been, but somehow it was.
• Shakhtar Donetsk reached the quarter-finals for the first time last night when they beat Roma 3-0 for a 6-2 aggregate win over the Italian club. The game was virtually decided after 45 minutes, with Roma reduced to ten men after Philippe Mèxes was sent off. Roma also missed a penalty.Tomas Hubschman set Shakhtar on the way with a back flick from a cross by Willian in the eighteenth minute. The Brazilian scored after the break, before Eduardo Da Silva struck the third.