Stunning night gives Spaniards the advantage.

Fireworks were anticipated at the Grove last night and unusually, both teams conspired to deliver a spectacle beyond all expectations. Barcelona, the best team in the world, looked more at home in north London than Arsenal and instantly set about playing the most impressive 45 minutes that Guardiola had seen them deliver away from the Nou Camp.

We are supposedly comfortable in possession but our opponents last night made us look wasteful. Every pass was perfectly weighted, every run perfectly timed and each movement was made in an attempt to engineer a goal. It was perpetual attacking football and they carved out chance after chance but somehow a combination of Almunia, desperate defending and poor finishing left the visitors without a goal as the teams departed for half time.

We responded sporadically throughout the first half but Guardiola’s men enjoy having possession so much that they are desperate to regain it at the earliest opportunity. They pressurised so high up the pitch that we were forced into misplaced passes in the midfield or desperate punts forward to Bendtner who’s only hope looked as if it might come from Puyol’s fondness for slipping over. The impressive Nasri did manage a curling effort that only just missed the far post but it was one of only two attempts on goal in the first half and we missed the target with both.

The Grove drew its collective breath as the half time whistle blew in astonishment at what they had just seen. An unbelievable display of football from Barcelona that had somehow been repelled by a shell shocked Arsenal side despite losing both Arshavin and Gallas to calf injuries. Denilson and Eboue came in to the fray and fared reasonably well as we finally found a foothold in the match in the closing moments of the half. It seemed as if it would take a miracle to finish the 90 minutes with a clean sheet though.

So it proved as Ibrahimovic stormed through our backline after seconds of the restart to latch on to a 50 yard through ball from Pique. Almunia spotted the danger too late and his belated charge from his line gave the Swedish striker the straightforward option of lobbing the ball over him and into the far corner. The away goal had been plundered and we now had a mountain to climb. Bendtner had the chance to level but his point blank header was straight at Valdes, it was a disappointing header but Barca’s superstars had already made more glaring misses.

It wasn’t long before we were punished though as Xavi replicated Pique’s pass from slightly closer range to free Ibrahimovic again. This time Almunia was rooted to the line so their number nine slammed an unstoppable drive into the top corner. He was beaten at the near post but it was the kind of Batistuta rocket that only a superhuman effort would have kept out.

Two goals down meant game over to many fans who started questioning how we could be totally outclassed in yet another of the season’s decisive games. Wenger threw caution to the wind though and made the brave decision to take the attack to Barca. Walcott came on for Sagna and the twin threat of the marauding Eboue from right back and Theo reversed the momentum. Barcelona’s left back, Maxwell, completely lost Walcott on numerous occasions and one of these brought about our first goal.

Bendtner had the quality and patience to hold onto the ball until the perfect moment when he released Walcott in behind Maxwell. Theo, who later compared the game to one he might play on the Playstation, glided through and placed a firm finish through the arms of Valdes. Hope returned and Theo was not done yet. Thierry Henry was then brought on to rapturous applause and his presence only seemed to buoy the Arsenal fans further.

The successor to his Arsenal shirt crossed from the right hand side, Bendtner chested it down to the onrushing Fabregas and just as he was about to pull the trigger he collided with Puyol. It was a penalty and their captain had to be sent off as Cesc would surely have scored. Fabregas, who had been staggering around the pitch for the entire game, now had the chance to level the scores with only five minutes left.

He sprinted up to the ball and lashed it into the net with, what has now been confirmed, a broken leg. A ridiculous finale to a ludicrously entertaining night and our captain even managed to stay on the pitch for the last few minutes as he heroically sacrificed everything for this match. It may not have been a sensible decision but last night was not an occasion for thinking logically.

Photo: Action Images

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