Barcelona let go of a wonderful 0-2 lead against an out-of-sorts Arsenal side to blow open the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal wide open. A Theo Walcott inspired Arsenal have something to play for as the sides are locked in a 2-2 battle for the semi final spot. iSporter Karan Shah analyses the game.
A spot in the semi final was up for grabs and Barcelona came to the Emirates with all their homework done as they blasted onto the pitch the minute the first half whistle blew and terrorized an absolutely lost Arsenal side who it seemed were yet warming up. Ibrahimovic and Messi started playing their own game and it was quite clear that the Arsenal backline had absolutely no plan whatsoever to contain them. Almunia had his own gameplan, however, and was well geared to survive the Catalan onslaught, well atleast in the first half, as he made superhuman saves to keep the Gunners in the tie.
Cesc Fabregas and company were looking quite ragged on the pitch as each Arsenal attack was thwarted comfortably by the Barcelona back four. Ibrahimovic could have scored a brace atleast and its strange to see someone of his caliber always underperform at European levels. Ibra had an easy chance to open the scoring however he missed from six yards out. Messi, it seemed too had forgotten his shooting boots at home as Almunia singlehandedly kept Arsenal in the tie. Arsenal had a chance in the dying stages of the half as Nasri went agonizingly close to round the ball off Valdes at the far post. However, the two teams went into halftime with a surprising 0 – 0 score.
The second half started with Barcelona finally managing to score a goal as Zlatan latched onto a long ball by Pique and finding Almunia in no mans land, easily lobbed the ball over the keeper to make it 0-1 to Barca. Arsenal still couldn’t come out of their slumber as almost soon thereafter Ibra scored another with a magnificient through ball from Xavi. Barcelona looked as if they were in cruise control and the semi final berth was theirs to take.
However, it wasn’t going to be so easy as a certain Theo Walcott entered the arena and well almost single handedly dashed all their hopes of a win at the Emirates as he started weaving his magic on the pitch. Almost immediately, he made an amazing impact to the outcome of the game as he cut in from the flank and slotted home with ease to give some hope to the home fans who were largely disappointed by the team’s performance thus far. Arsenal started pushing for a late equalizer as Barcelona were pushed on the backfoot. Barca brought in Henry for Ibra and it dint really change the flow of direction as Arsenal poured players forward. Fabregas and Pique both got yellow carded for punishable offences putting both of them out of the second leg.
Five minutes from full time, Bendtner connected with a long ball and headed it to Fabregas in the penalty area. The Spaniard was just going to pull the trigger when Puyol brought him down with a screaming tackle. Replays suggested it wasn’t as intense as it seemed to be, however the referee pointed towards the spot and former Barca youth player Fabregas made no mistake in bringing Arsenal level. The match ended on a sour note for Barca as both Puyol (who was red carded for the foul in the penalty area) and Pique are going to be absent for the second leg and a lucky Arsenal have a few days to rework their strategy against the Mighty Catalans.
The second leg promises to be an exciting one as Arsene Wenger needs to figure a way to stop the onslaught and well, score at the Camp Nou. Arsenal have been trophyless since quite some time now and should they be ousted, it will be difficult for the talented youngsters at the Emirates stadium to pledge allegiance to the Gunners. Arsene needs to certainly up the ante of his young team or it seems that this year English clubs will have a major difficulty featuring in the semi finals of the Champions League.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
Show/hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
