Arsenal 2-2 Barcelona - 7M sport

Arsenal 2-2 Barcelona



Posted Thursday, April 01, 2010 by theguardian.com

Cesc Fábregas penalty gives Arsenal hope to take to Barcelona

Arsenal 2-2 Barcelona
Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored twice, celebrates with Daniel Alves.

The glory lay in the defiance, although the outcome of the tie scarcely looks promising for Arsenal when the return at Camp Nou next Tuesday is borne in mind. That future, all the same, was too distant to interest supporters, who rightly preferred to dwell on the recovery from 2-0 down.

That had been barely feasible, yet it was not only secured by Cesc Fábregas, from the penalty spot with five minutes remaining, but also entailed a red card for Carles Puyol. He had fouled the Arsenal captain as he stepped on to a Nicklas Bendtner knockdown.

Barcelona's leader is suspended for the return along with his fellow centre-half Gerard Piqué but so, too, is the Arsenal captain. Fábregas is banned following a first-half booking, but that looks academic since his knee trouble and other problems appear now to be more serious still.

Such considerations feel marginal at present because the vigour of this encounter still dominates most people's minds. By the conventional measure this was a bad result for the home team, but nobody will see it in such a light unless the meeting at Camp Nou underlines the fact.

For the moment, Arsenal are elated, yet Arsène Wenger was composed enough to scold the defending. At times his men were over-run as Zlatan Ibrahimovic thrived for once against opposition from England. A 46th-minute opener, the first of his two goals, was floated home deliciously after a pass from Piqué. As is his right, Wenger was aghast at the lack of cover.

That fallibility, however, was linked to his decisions. When William Gallas had to depart on a stretcher on his first outing since injury in mid-February, it was Wenger's preference to leave Sol Campbell on the bench and haul Alex Song out of midfield and into the back four. Regardless of his experience there with Cameroon, Song proved hapless.

Arsenal did not let that sap their morale. The pugnacity ensured that Thierry Henry's return to the club as a substitute was met with unconditional goodwill because his current side had been denied. There will be conjecture aplenty about the prospects at Camp Nou, but no one should forget the plethora of opportunities that were effortlessly devised and squandered by Barcelona in the first half.

The Arsenal support has an expectation of ravishingly geometric football. Standards threatened to reach new heights, and Barcelona intimidated by gliding through the Arsenal. Only the goalkeeper Manuel Almunia thwarted a rout.

Ibrahimovic assisted by being initially wasteful when there was a glut of openings. Otherwise, Arsenal continued to get some body part or other in the path of numerous attempts. Considering how denounced he had been for Birmingham's late equaliser on Saturday, the rehabilitation of Almunia was swiftly achieved.

Arsenal do have a new persistence that is keeping them in pursuit of the Premier League title. They coped here even when Andrey Arshavin had to be taken off.

Gallas's season could well be at an end, but Wenger was convinced that every risk had to be taken if there was to be any prospect of disturbing Barcelona. Fábregas's inclusion was a remarkable gamble.

The fitness test undergone by him this morning had not even involved kicking the ball. This was a high-profile event in an eminent tournament, but Arsenal could hardly be left to enjoy it in simple terms. Before the match one fan confessed he dreaded the sort of occasion experienced when Chelsea and Manchester United had routinely beaten Wenger's side in every meeting during this campaign.

The riposte lay in the claim that Arsenal have been developing. For all Barcelona's renown, the players might also have felt that this was a type of football to which they are better suited. Pep Guardiola certainly stuck to his principles and resisted the inclusion of a pair of holding midfielders. Sergio Busquets started, but Yaya Touré was on the bench.

The prowess of the visitors might still have been devastating even if Arsenal had been in ideal shape. When Xavi fed the ball into the channel between Song and Gaël Clichy after 59 minutes, Ibrahimovic was free to drive a finish high past Almunia at his near post and establish the 2-0 lead that appeared impregnable at the time. It will be a while before anyone reverts to sneering at the Swede in these parts.

Arsenal took credit for their enterprise displayed when Barcelona's grip slackened. Bendtner, who might have scored on his own account earlier in the second half, played the pass from which the substitute Theo Walcott scored with a fine angled drive in the 69th minute. The match had not gone as Arsenal had intended, but the fortitude was still memorable.



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