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Barcelona v Arsenal 1st Leg Match Report ECL 2011

On Wednesday the 16th of February we were all treated to a footballing spectacular in the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal came from behind to beat Barcelona 2-1. A first half goal from David Villa put Barcelona a goal up at half time. But Arsenal didn’t give and eventually Van Persie punished Valdez’s bad positioning and slotted home from a tight angle. Arsenal pushed for the winner and it eventually came when Nasri played a ball to Arshavin who curled the ball past Victor Valdez. The game stayed the same and Arsenal beat Barcelona for the first time.

In hindsight, Arsenal are very lucky. Barcelona could have finished the game in the first half. Messi missed a chance he would have normally scored with his eyes closed. We could see it wasn’t going to be his night after he had a goal disallowed for offside. Replays showed his was behind the ball when it was played and Arsenal were lucky not to concede a penalty in the same play when Djourou hand balled inside the penalty box.

But in fairness to Arsenal they never looked really out of the tie and they proved that when they scored two goals in the space of five minutes. In this tie last year Barclona were two goals up but Arsenal battled back to level it. All that was in vain tough, when Messi ran riot in the nou camp. He scored four goals in a 4-1 win. Will it be the same this year. Well we’ll know at ten o’ clock on the 8th of March.

One player that stood out was young Jack Wilshire. Is he really Arsenal’s answer to Xavi Hernandez. He completed 91% of his passes in the final third. Who Knows? Is he a star for the future?

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