block6gooner

Last night Arsene took a gamble on the fitness of a number of players, 3 of them left the pitch injured. I was surprised that Gallas started given that only a few weeks ago he was far from match fitness, perhaps Sol not being able to play so many games in quick succession was on Arsene’s mind. Gallas broke down midway through the first half and was holding the calf that had kept him put previously – I think it’s fair to say his season is over now. Arshavin, who only made the bench on Saturday due to a knock, didn’t look part of the game either. He is massively short of match fitness, he took another knock in a challenge and was also substituted. Two subs used before halftime, not what you wanted to see.

Late in the game, after we had made our third sub, Cesc was holding his leg and could barely walk. Barca were down to 10 men at this point, I would have taken him off, there was only a few minutes to go and I think the risk of aggravating his injury far outweighed the match. But he remained on the pitch. Reports late last night were of a possible broken leg, I suspect it might be a fracture rather than a break but no doubt more will be reported today – but I fear that is another player done for the season.

Onto the game though. We were the underdogs for this one, Barcelona are the best club side in world football and the opening half hour showed why. Perhaps the players were slightly in awe of them but we barely touched the ball, Barcelona gave us the treatment we give many other sides when we tear them apart. It was quite sobering. The passing across the back four and midfield was reminiscent of us at our free-flowing best, and perhaps we would have done the same had they given us the ball at some point! It was end to halfwayline stuff for a lot of the first half, the much maligned Almunia made a number of fine reaction saves that really did keep us in it. With about 10 minutes to go in the first half we did get in the game, we made some breaks at their defence and had them under a bit of pressure, but halftime arrived and that allowed Barca to re-group.

The second half started and almost immediately there was a goal, Imbrahimovic got on the end of a high ball and tipped it over Almunia. Whilst the Spaniard had to take some of the blame Song, playing in defence following Gallas’ removal, should have covered better. The players all looked like they were just getting back into the game, they didn’t look awake at all. The floodgates were threatening to open now, Barca passed the ball with the ease they had in the first half and a few times tore us open. The second goal came again via Ibrahimovic and the Arsenal players heads dropped, you could see it.

I feared this was going to be a real hammering at this point, 4 or 5 perhaps, but a substitution changed the game. Walcott replaced Sagna (Eboue slotted into rightback) and his pace on the right side clearly worried Barca. They are not a quick team by any stretch at the back, time and time again Walcott beat his man and we feared for no end product but he was getting the ball into the box or going at goal on his own. One of these bursts allowed Theo to get a shot off and Valdes should have done better but the ball was in the back of the net. Theo gets a lot of stick from Arsenal fans, but he has shown what he can do and if he keeps that up to a consistent level we will see more of him (keep playing him Arsene!). It was 2-1, could we? could we?

We attacked more and sort of had Barca on the ropes, but they could thread a pass through us and the threat was never to go away. A few more heart stopping moments were to arrive but it was good to see Almunia clutch the ball to his chest at the other end of the pitch. Then the moment was to come, we had the ball in the box, Cesc had it at his feet and was felled by Puyol. The ref blew his whistle, the crowd erupted. I looked at Cesc and he was shaking his finger, I think he didn’t want to see Puyol sent off. But the ref produced a red card.

This was a defining moment for our captain, in more ways than we knew at the time, he had the chance to score against his boyhood team to earn a draw for us. Cesc cooly slotted home and we were level. Only a few minutes were left and we held out for the draw.

One thing about the ref, he was terrible. All night he made poor decisions. Song booked for an early foul, Cesc booked for getting the ball (meaning he would have missed the second leg had he not been injured later in the game) and a number of fouls against us but few called on Barca. Not an even performance by any means.

Thierry got a good reception when he came on as a late sub, then a slightly ironic boo when he first touched the ball. But he stayed till the end for his goodbye to us. We still love you TH14.

So did we deserve the result? Not entirely, Barca were the better team, I have no doubt about that and even the most rose-tinted gooner would have to agree with that. However we did take them on, we looked threatening when we broke against their defence. The back 4 looks a little slow at times and relies of the midfield and attack scoring more goals than they concede I feel.

But it boils down to one thing, we had 4 chances to score; we took 2 of them and one produced a fine save from Valdes. Barcelona had loads of chances to score and kill the game off, but they didn’t and we got back in – sound familiar? They have two away goals and to see us winning at the Nou Camp is a massive ask. But we have to be proud of the team last night, it was a good match and a great result even if we didn’t fully deserve it.

All thoughts turn to Cesc now, I will post later my thoughts if I get time but will certainly update twitter as the day goes on any any news emerges. Thanks for reading.