Where it went wrong for Arsenal

Posted Wednesday, April 07, 2010 by theguardian.com

Barcelona v Arsenal: David Pleat's tactical analysis
Lionel Messi found crazy freedom which Jose Mourinho will not allow him against Inter in the semi-finals

Where it went wrong for Arsenal
Lionel Messi celebrates his first goal against Arsenal at Camp Nou.

Comparisons across generations are always difficult but Di Stefano, Cruyff, Best, Pele and Maradona would all have admired Lionel Messi's brilliance last night. It was tempting, however, to wonder whether things might have been different had Arsène Wenger been able to call on a man-marker. Unfortunately for the Arsenal manager he did not have the tools to do the job and Messi came short, went wide and ran beyond. He found crazy freedom.

Arsenal needed a midfield stopper. Maybe Messi's outstanding talent would have made a mockery of such a player. Perhaps. But by allowing the best footballer in the world to find space Arsenal were blown away. In modern football the man-to-man marker is a dying breed as teams have collectively become so well organised defensively. But it is possible to sacrifice one of your own players to take an opponent out of the game and accept a nine versus nine outfield situation.

José Mourinho will be ready for Barcelona's talisman and my guess is that he will impose a jailer to stay on his toes and battle him physically. He will also squeeze the space between his backline and middle line. No doubt Messi will get out of jail but not as easily as he did against Arsenal. One felt sorry for Wenger. The Arsenal manager was shorn of key players but, in retrospect, the most important absentee was his midfielder Alex Song.

Nicklas Bendtner's persistence gave Arsenal early false hope. From then on Messi's response was quite staggering. Barcelona made a wide pitch even wider, with their full-backs hugging the touchlines and Sergio Busquets and Xavi Hernandez accepted the ball from defenders and threaded passes forward where Messi, never stationary, exploded. With Bojan Krkic mainly forward in the first half, Messi ran deeper and across the width of the field, finding room without a man trailing him.

In the second half Barcelona preened themselves with bouts of possession for possession's sake. But when the explosion came it was traumatic for Arsenal and the catalyst and finisher supreme was Messi. Occasionally we witness special players, and in the British game in recent times we have been blessed with people like Cantona, Bergkamp and Zola. Messi belongs in the best company. Just do not expect him to have the chance to enjoy himself as much against Internazionale.