Sid Lowe's match report
FULL TIME: Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal (agg 3-1)
A great opportunity for Sanchez to score a consolation against his old club, but latching onto a Giroud backheel, squirts wide from near the penalty spot. And that’s that! The European champions make the quarter finals with ease. Though Arsenal played well tonight, and for a few minutes back there, gave their hosts something to think about. Ultimately, though, quality told. Just look at the goalscorers: Neymar, Suarez, Messi. Three delightful finishes. Can anyone stop this astonishing side becoming the first team to retain the European Cup since Milan?
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90 min: There will be two added minutes. Arsenal just wanna go home.
GOAL! Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal (Messi 88; agg 5-1)
Neymar, to the right of the D, tries to feed the ball left for Suarez, who is free. His pass is blocked, but breaks to Messi, on his right shoulder. Messi steps into the area, draws Ospina, shapes to shoot into the bottom right with his right, then scoops delicately past the keeper into the left! A gorgeous finish. He’s done nothing all night, and then that.
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87 min: A burst of pace by Walcott down the right, and he’s in the Barca box with the chance to shoot. It doesn’t end well.
85 min: Giroud is booked after poking his fingers into Sergi Roberto’s boat. Actually, he might have got away with it had he not reacted to the free-kick decision by throwing the ball down in the play-school style. He misses the next match. Arsenal’s problem next season? Maybe. Maybe someone else’s.
84 min: Barcelona are playing keep-ball in the middle of the park. Their work here is done.
82 min: Neymar glides down the left and looks for Messi in the middle. Monreal heads out for a corner, from which Busquets heads wide right from six yards. That, inexplicably from an Arsenal point of view, was a free header. It should have been Barcelona’s third.
80 min: Oh he fancies it all right! He sends a powerful curler towards the top left. It’s surely going in, but Ter Stegen gets a strong hand to it. Giroud is first to the loose ball, and his shot from a tight angle on the left is stopped by another firm Ter Stegen arm. The ball loops to Walcott, who heads weakly goalwards. The ball’s deflected away from danger.
79 min: Monreal embarks on a fine direct run down the inside left. He nears the edge of the Barca box, and is brought down by Arda Turan, who is booked. A free kick, 30 yards out. Sanchez looks like he fancies this.
77 min: Rakitic is replaced by Arda Turan. Walcott jigs into space down the right, but his low cross isn’t anywhere near Giroud in the middle.
76 min: But Arsenal aren’t finished yet. Monreal earns a corner with a powerful run down the left, and from the set piece Walcott is gifted a free shot from the edge of the area. He scuffs it, though.
74 min: Sergio Roberto, to the left of the Arsenal D, curls high to Suarez, just inside the box on the right. Suarez lays back to the rushing Rakitic, who aims for the top right from 25 yards, but gets it all wrong. It looks as though Barca are preparing to rummage around in their box of party tricks.
73 min: Iniesta is replaced by Sergi Roberto. Meanwhile Welbeck and Iwobi are swapped for Walcott and Giroud.
71 min: Neymar kills a high ball dead while holding the rabona position. Dear me. He whips low into the area. Messi has another whack, but nothing’s going his way so far.
70 min: Neymar dribbles into the Arsenal box from the left and looks to have set up Messi, on the penalty spot with the ball at his feet. But maybe it’s not the great man’s night. He can’t quite dig it out, and suddenly he’s swarmed by red shirts. Elneny batters clear.
67 min: By any rational analysis, this is over. But to their credit, Arsenal still aren’t giving up. Iwobi feeds Welbeck down the inside left, and a rising rasper grazes the crossbar and flies out for a goal kick!
GOAL! Barcelona 2-1 Arsenal (Suarez 65; agg 4-1)
Barcelona step it up a bit! And this is a spectacular one. Dani Alves makes good down the right, and stands one up into the middle. There appears to be no danger, because Suarez, level with the left-hand post and 12 yards out, seems to be a little ahead of the ball. But he leaps, contorts his body, and whips an absurd volley into the top right, Ospina no chance! A suggestion (only a suggestion, mind) that it might have come off his shin, but even if that’s the case, it’s still a brilliant goal: he was forcing that ball into the net by hook or by crook! Stunning improvisation!
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63 min: Some intricate ping-ping passing by Arsenal down the right. Bellerin slips the ball inside for Iwobi, who flicks it down the channel to release Sanchez into a pocket of space. But there’s not much space, and though he tries to get a shot away from a tight angle, a corner’s the best he can come up with. From the set piece, Welbeck wins a header six yards out, and plants it wide right! But he was offside anyway. Barcelona need to step it up a bit, because Arsenal are threatening to score a second goal, and then it’d be time for some serious questions.
61 min: Neymar, on the edge of the Arsenal D, cushions a header down for Messi to his left. Messi lashes a wild effort high into the stand. Barcelona and their fans are betraying a little frustration right now.
60 min: Wow. That was an outstanding chance for Welbeck. Barcelona, sensing danger now, flood up the other end, Neymar very nearly working space in the box down the inside right for a shot. He’s crowded out for a corner, which leads to nothing. This is exciting stuff all of a sudden.
58 min: A long hoof down the middle of the park. Mathieu sends a weak header back towards his own goal. Welbeck pounces, and glides inside. He’s got a chance to shoot from the edge of the box, seemingly one on one with Ter Stegen. But out of nowhere, Mascherano comes across to block! The ball balloons off to the left for a corner, but the set piece comes to nothing, and the chance to really put the cat among the pigeons is gone.
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56 min: And in a flash, it was so nearly off again. Neymar, just to the left of the D, heel-flicks down the channel to release Messi into a little space. Messi shoots low and hard across Ospina, but the keeper parries well. Koscielny, not for the first time tonight, is in the right position to clear.
54 min: Barcelona look a little nervous for the first time since 2006. Sanchez nicks the ball off a dawdling Jordi Alba, and he’s into a little space on the right wing. But his looping cross is too deep for Welbeck in the middle. This isn’t quite yet on. But it’s nearly on!
53 min: That’s given every Arsenal player a spring in their step. What a strike that was. Suarez tries to set up an instant response with a scoop into the Arsenal area down the left, but it’s easily mopped up.
WHAT A GOAL! Barcelona 1-1 Arsenal (Elneny 51; agg 3-1)
Sanchez makes space down the right, then pulls the ball back to Elneny, to the right of the D. Elneny opens his body and curls a stunning shot round Busquets and into the top right! That was unstoppable! And this ... this isn’t over quite yet! Just one more goal...
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50 min: Sanchez is booked for a cynical tug on Neymar as the two battle in the centre circle.
49 min: A little space for Iwobi on the left. He hits a shot - or is it a cross for Ozil in the centre? Either way, it’s blocked by a sliding Dani Alves. Corner, which comes to nothing. Iwobi has been very impressive tonight, always showing.
48 min: Suarez, sitting deep in Arsenal’s half on the left, rakes a glorious diagonal ball down the inside-right with a view to releasing Messi. Koscielny steps in to intercept, having read the danger well.
47 min: A quiet, fragmented start to the second half. Neymar has a probe down the left but goes nowhere. Then Sanchez and Bellerin take turns to float crosses into the Barca box from the right, but neither ball carries any danger with it.
And we're off again!
The hosts get the second-half party started. No changes. Not even with the weather. It’s still tipping down.
Half-time entertainment: Barcelona in their first European Cup final, starring the original Luis Suarez.
HALF TIME: Barcelona 1-0 Arsenal (agg 3-0)
Barca haven’t been at their free-flowing best. Arsenal have had their chances. And yet look at the scoreline. That, to borrow a line from the popular terrace singalong, is why they’re champions.
45 min: Coquelin comes on for Flamini, who has presumably picked up some sort of injury.
43 min: It’s end to end. Suarez is nearly released into the Arsenal area down the right; Ozil probes down the Arsenal left, but can’t find Sanchez with his low cross. An Arsenal goal now may make things a little different. Only a little different, mind.
41 min: Welbeck and Iwobi one-two down the left. Welbeck is faced with a tight angle, but it’s a shooting opportunity. However he’s got Mascherano snapping at his heels, and it puts him off as his attempt to curl into the bottom right doesn’t come off.
39 min: Arsenal should be level. Bellerin races into space down the right. He curls a lovely cross into the middle of the box. Sanchez is clear, the ball dropping on his head. Anything on target, and he’ll surely power his header past Ter Stegen. But he glances it wide left. What a chance!
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38 min: Arsenal have been buoyed by that incident. Fuelled by displeasure, Iwobi lashes a shot wide left of the target from just inside the Barcelona box. Then there’s another phase of attack, and Elneny thrashes low and hard while romping into space down the inside right. But his shot is blocked.
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35 min: Iwobi goes chasing after a long ball down the inside-left channel. He enters the Barca box, and falls to ground with Mascherano on his shoulder. There was the slightest of contacts on the line. Iwobi, put off balance, went down like a sack of spuds, having clipped his own heel while running at full pelt, but that could easily have been a penalty kick. But Arsenal aren’t getting it. On the touchline, Wenger throws irate semaphore shapes. Gabriel is booked for protesting.
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34 min: Rakitic floats a ball into the Arsenal box from the right. Suarez, on the edge of the six-yard box but with his back to goal, stuns it dead with his chest, and lays off to Messi. Before Messi can shoot from 10 yards, Gabriel hooks over his own head for a corner, from which nothing happens.
32 min: A yellow card for Flamini, who goes up for a high ball with Iniesta but succeeds only in planting his knee into the World Cup final goalscorer’s back. Flamini has the good grace not to complain about the disciplinary measure taken.
30 min: Barcelona are toying with Arsenal right now. A long pass by Mathieu down the left to release Jordi Alba into acres. The ball’s cut back for Neymar, whose attempt from the left of the D to find the bottom right is snaffled by the increasingly busy Ospina.
29 min: Jordi Alba nutmegs Bellerin to burst into the Arsenal box down the left. He earns a corner. The ball’s sent long to Suarez on the right. He earns another corner. From which the ball’s sent long to Suarez on the left. He turns Koscielny inside and out, though the dinked cross inside for Neymar isn’t quite right.
26 min: And another wave of attack sees Flamini earn a corner down the left. He’s given the ball back from the set piece, 30 yards from goal, and takes an ambitious rake. That’s not too bad an effort, aimed for the top right, a little high and a little wide. Not so far away. Ter Stegen might not have got to that, had it been right in the corner.
24 min: Iwobi again makes ground in the Barca half, and feeds Welbeck on the left. Welbeck tries to drop a shoulder to get past Dani Alves and into the box, but he’s stopped easily enough. This is a spirited response by Arsenal, who looked distraught in the immediate aftermath of the goal, but have regrouped well.
22 min: Then again, if Arsenal strike back quickly ... Iwobi slides a ball down the left to send Monreal into a little space. He’s got Welbeck in space in the middle, but his low cross is easily cut out by Mascherano. “The camera catches Luis Enrique sniggering: not very classy,” suggests Charles Antaki. “Maybe he was thinking of something else. But Arsenal fans aren’t feeling very generous at the moment.”
20 min: Arsenal look visibly deflated. They had started well, too. They’re struggling to get a touch now. Barcelona are in Probe Mode, stretching them this way and that.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Arsenal (Neymar 18; agg 3-0)
Poor Ospina. He makes that brilliant save, and it’s all for naught. A poor pass out of defence by Gabriel. Suarez, on the right, slides diagonally for Neymar, breaking clear on the left, Bellerin out of position as a result of the giveaway. Neymar strides into the box and slips it into the bottom left. It could be a long night now.
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17 min: Neymar, to the left of the centre circle, sends a glorious looping pass towards Messi, tearing past Koscielny down the inside right. Messi’s clear in the box, and flicks insouciantly towards the bottom left. But Ospina stays big and deflects the ball over for a corner. What a pass - but what a save! The corner should end in a goal anyway, as Mathieu is granted a free header six yards out. But he somehow gets under a low-ish ball and fires it over the bar.
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15 min: Arsenal are carving out a couple of half-chances. Elneny strides down the right channel and sends a diagonal daisycutter towards the bottom left. Just a tad wide, and Ter Stegen almost certainly had that covered. But that’s a good idea on a greasy surface.
12 min: Space for Jordi Alba down the left. He pulls a low ball back to the edge of the box for Messi, who attempts to send a snapshot goalwards but - stop the press II - doesn’t connect properly. “This Arsenal match feels like Marco Rubio just before yesterday’s Florida primary,” opines G Wither. “You knew it was over, he knew it was over, but he had to go through the exercise and accept his punishment. Only question is how bad. It was very bad for Marco. Probably will be worse for Arsenal. But that’s where this labored analogy ends: Barcelona is not The Donald.” Ah, US politics, I’ll be bound. Any old excuse to put this up.
10 min: Iniesta plays a poor ball in the midfield - stop the press - and Arsenal flood forward. Ozil dribbles down the inside-right channel, drops a shoulder, and looks for the top left. His shot from 20 yards is well wide, but it was powerful enough. A decent start by Arsenal, this.
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8 min: Messi slides a pass down the inside right to release Suarez into the area. Suarez is about five yards offside, but the flag stays down! He plays a poor ball into the middle, where a panicked Koscielny does marvellously well to adjust and hack clear. And then the flag does go up, as late as you like. Very odd. But Arsenal breathe again, and they’ve come through a defensive drill with flying colours. Hey, positive thinking.
6 min: Arsenal are approaching this ambitiously. Ozil is already showing plenty of attacking intent; now he’s on the left flank trying to work space for Iwobi. He can’t open up the Barca back line, but full marks for probing with high intensity.
4 min: It’s an open game already, which may not be the best news for Arsenal. Neymar threatens to break into their box down the right, but he’s ushered out of play by Koscielny. A magnificent atmosphere in Camp Nou, by the way. The fans giving it plenty.
3 min: But this is promising for Arsenal. Ozil plays a clever ball down the inside-right channel to release Welbeck into the Barca box. The Arsenal striker is faced with a tight angle, and kicks the ball against his own leg. It goes out for a goal kick, though Arsenal are awarded a corner. Thankfully for those bored by minor controversies in the internet age, it comes to nothing.
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40-odd secs: Suarez makes good down the left. He flicks inside for Iniesta, who very nearly sets himself clear into the box after one-twoing with Messi. But he can’t keep control of the return ball. For a second there, Arsenal hearts were in mouths. It’s important to keep tight early doors if they’re to have any chance.
And we're off!
Arsenal get the game going. And lose possession within ten seconds. The only way is up. “Barcelona have skilful players and all, but can they do it on a wet Wednesday night in Barcelona?” wonders Matt Dony.
Pre-match optimism department: “If, and it’s a big if, Arsenal score three, they have the luxury of allowing a garbage injury-time consolation goal to Messi and company to advance on away goals.” Peter J Mumola there, talking the language of happiness.
“Following you at home but if Arsenal are two goals up at half-time I shall be off to a hostelry to watch the second half,” writes an excited Kevin Mannerings.
Stuart Morphet has been engaged in an office debate “about the best way for Arsenal to Arsenal up the tie tonight. We’ve narrowed it down to winning 1-0 and missing a last-minute penalty, and going 3-0 up in 20 minutes only to lose 4-3 (6-3) on aggregate.”
“The main objective for Arsenal tonight is to avoid a thrashing so bad it makes Ozil & Sanchez leave the Emirates,” sighs Stephen Ford, who self-identifies as a “Gloomy Gunner”.
Hmm, this is getting out of control. Which may be why Grant Tennille is avoiding the subject altogether. “Has there been a bigger one-hit wonder than Juliano Belletti?” he asks, presumably having scanned the preamble. “His ONLY goal for Barcelona! Opening this up to musings of sporting and musical sort, should this match go tits-up early doors.” Before anyone emails in to riff on poor Grant’s pain, the Captain &... had more to offer than Love Will Keep Us Together. So much more.
Anyway, the teams are out. Both teams in their famous first-choice strips! We’ll be off in a minute!
Barcelona: such a beautiful horizon, as Freddie and Montserrat correctly pointed out. It’s not quite so grand when the rain’s lashing down, though, as it is tonight. It’s coming down in stair rods! And it’s cold. A homage to Britain in Catalonia. This Arsenal team could be described as something of an ersatz copy, too: the accident-prone Gabriel preferred to Per Mertesacker at the back, young Alex Iwobi picked ahead of Olivier Giroud, Joel Campbell and Theo Walcott up front. Wisely giving youth some precious big-game experience in a tie already lost? Sagely prioritising the trip to Everton at the weekend? Throwing in the towel? Manufacturing excuses for defeat? Having gone left of field with his selection, Arsene Wenger has guaranteed quite the internet debating society tonight should Arsenal lose. But just imagine if they win 3-0!
Those teams in full
Barcelona: ter Stegen, Dani Alves, Mascherano, Mathieu, Jordi Alba, Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta, Messi, Suarez, Neymar.
Subs: Bravo, Turan, Bartra, Munir, Sergi Roberto, Aleix Vidal, Vermaelen.
Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Koscielny, Gabriel, Monreal, Flamini, Elneny, Iwobi, Ozil, Sanchez, Welbeck.
Subs: Macey, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Giroud, Walcott, Campbell, Coquelin.
Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia).
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Barcelona won 6-0 at the weekend while Arsenal lost 2-1, but it’s of little relevance: both sides make six changes to their starting line-ups. The hosts welcome back Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Javier Mascherano, Dani Alves, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez. They replace Claudio Bravo, Gerard Pique, Aleix Vidal, Arda Turan, Sergi Roberto and Munir El Haddadi.
The visitors meanwhile say hello to Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Hector Bellerin, Mathieu Flamini, Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi. Which means no starting places for Kieran Gibbs, Per Mertesacker, Calum Chambers, Francis Coquelin, Olivier Giroud and Joel Campbell.
🎼 ♫ Die Meister! Die Besten! Les grandes équipes! The champions! ♪
It’s 9.15pm (roughly, give or take) on Wednesday 17 May 2006, and Arsenal are a goal up in the Champions League final. If they hold out for another 15 minutes, they’ll lift their first-ever European Cup. Another 15 minutes, and they’ll be alongside their opponents Barcelona on the all-time honours list, with one European Cup apiece.
Ah well, we all know what happened next. Samuel Eto’o 76, Juliano Belletti 80, is what happened. So close, yet so far. And the gulf between the two clubs has widened considerably in the decade since. Arsenal are still searching for that maiden European Cup; Barcelona now have five of the things cluttering up the place.
The Catalan giants have subsequently made a habit of riffing on Arsenal’s pain. In the 2010 quarter finals, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic shared all the goals in a 6-3 aggregate rout. A year later in the round of 16, Messi scored another two on the way to a 4-3 aggregate victory. And this time round it very much looks like more of the same, Messi having again scored twice, this time on Arsenal’s patch three weeks ago. If Arsenal get through this, against opponents who have historically had their number - Barca, with the help of goals from current boss Luis Enrique, knocked the Gunners out of the 1999/2000 groups as well - they’ll be registering one of the greatest shocks in European history.
That history really isn’t Arsenal’s friend. If the head-to-head stuff wasn’t bad enough, they’ve never overturned a home first-leg defeat in European competition. Barca meanwhile have progressed on 35 of the 37 occasions they’ve won the first leg away in Uefa tournaments. (Those two failures, for the record, came against Cologne in the first round of the 1980/81 Uefa Cup, and FC Metz in the first round of the 1984/85 Cup Winners’ Cup.) And only Ajax and Internazionale have ever made it through a Champions League knockout tie after losing the first leg at home: Ajax after going down to Panathinaikos in the 1995/96 semis, Inter against Bayern Munich in the 2010/11 round of 16.
Barcelona are on a run of nine straight home wins in this tournament, including a 6-1 humiliation of Roma. They’ve also won their last eight matches in all competitions, a sequence which includes a 4-0, a 5-1, a 6-1 and a 6-0. Arsenal by contrast have lost four of their last six and have just been knocked out of the FA Cup at home by Watford.
So, you know, there’s no point lying to ourselves about this. This doesn’t look promising. It’s a fair approximation of a tough ask. But what’s the point of sport if you’re not allowed to dream some dreamy dreams? An early goal for Arsenal, and you never know how a team may react. The history and form books can’t be right all the time, huh? No point giving up quite yet. And hey, if Arsenal do manage to turn this one around, they can thank apocalyptic preambles such as this for tempting fate. God speed, then, Arsenal. In football, you never know.
Kick off: 8.45pm in Barcelona, 7.45pm back in north London.
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