Lionel Messi scored two goals in either half that sent the Gunners crashing out of Europe after a 3-1 (Agg. 4-3) win at Camp Nou on Tuesday 8th March 2011 evening, but not without some help from a nonsensical blunder on behalf of Swiss referee Massimo Bussaca.
Bussaca sent off Robin van Persie in the 56th minute for a second bookable offense when the Dutchman shot the ball towards goal after the offside whistle had been blown, thereby wasting time.
The Gunners were furious with the decision, claiming that there was hardly a second's gap between the whistle and the shot. van Persie argued that he didn't hear the whistle with 95,000 fans in full voice.
It was an unfortunate decision that put the nail in the coffin after a rather dismal performance from the Gunners.
Arsene Wenger's side found themselves on the back-foot from the start, unable to find their own passing game as Barca slipped seamlessly into their stride. Keeper Wojciech Szczesny was forced off with a finger injury in the 19th minute, which brought on Manuel Almunia.
It was one-way traffic throughout the first half and Lionel Messi, who single-handedly destroyed the Gunners last year, was back to torment them after an error by Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas.
Fabregas tried a ridiculous back-heel just outside the box, allowing Andres Iniesta to feed Messi and the Argentine finished brilliantly.
There only looked like being one winner from there, but Arsenal were handed a lifeline on 53 minutes when Sergio Busquets headed into his own goal. That put Wenger's men 3-2 ahead on aggregate but it was to be a short-lived celebration.
van Persie was then dismissed, which brought the already struggling Gunners down to 10 men. On 69 minutes the scores were levelled on aggregate as Iniesta fed Xavi who found the net via a deflection off Bacary Sagna.
Two minutes later Laurent Koscielny fouled Pedro, and Messi converted the penalty.
Wenger sent on Andrey Arshavin and then Nicklas Bendtner, replacing Fabregas, but it was more in hope than expectation.
Almunia denied Barcelona another goal with good blocks from Messi and substitute Ibrahim Afellay.
Even though the Gunners will argue that it was a horrendous decision that went against them which led to their downfall, the fact of the matter was that Arsenal had no shots on goal throughout the 90 minutes.
Barcelona were all over Arsenal throughout the match, and deserved to go through despite the decision.
iSport's Man of the Match: Lionel Messi
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a guest
said:
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... i like d last line..barca were all over arsenal nd deserved to go thru!! vISCA EL BARCA |
a guest
said:
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... i can never understand the media, barcelona played very well, yet they concede an own goal that may end their european hope until 69th minutes. everyone is praising them! if arsenal do the same thing to any team it's called "immature performance", "nervy", "naive", "lack of leadership"...oh i love english writing press. |
a guest
said:
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... All I have to say is if Arsenal was such a great team, they could have won without Van Persie. |
Asif Khan
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... What logic is that Arsenal would have won without RVP? Could Barca would have won without Messi? |
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