The Game

After Alex Song’s injury, there was only one way for us to go through: a miracle. Alex’s injury 24 hours before such a big game was cruel, it was cruel because the injury curse seems to not want to go away and it was cruel considering our situation back there. Yes, Lionel Messi may be the best player in the World but any other player would have run riot tonight with all the space he was given. In the 1st leg, when our regular players were at the back, he wasn’t as dangerous as tonight.

Make no mistake, I am not trying hard to find excuses or justify our elimination. Barcelona are a better team and fully deserved to go through but you know, there are two small things which keep rumbling in my head. One, we were missing Cesc, Robin, Alex and Andrey, four top class players and it hurts to be sitting here wondering what would have happened if they were fit as believe me, without them, we can still be proud after these two games. And two, seriously, you need to ask questions on why Arsene signed a player who cannot play two games in a row.

It’s easy to say it with words I know and we cannot know what would have happened had Arsene signed a proper centre back in January but in the meantime, we know what it means signing a 35-year old Sol Campbell who is a part-timer in this squad and not fit enough to play consecutive games. Today we played the best team in the world, away from home, expecting Mikael Silvestre to stop them. That’s foolish.

On a final note, I wanted to underline Gael Clichy’s game, He was the only one who showed the determination which was needed if we had to stand a slim chance of not losing heavily. Many others, unfortunately, failed to raise up to the occasion the way the Frenchman did.

Match Video Highlights

Match video highlights are available in the Videos section of our website. If not there yet, rest assured they will be up in a matter of hours.

Player Ratings

Almunia: 5 – You can’t really blame him for the goals, although the in-between the legs fourth one could have been avoided. But I still wonder when he will learn to properly distribute the ball instead of putting the pressure back on our players.

Vermaelen: 4 – Way too many times caught napping, I honestly hope he’s not starting to feel the tiredness of a whole season.

Silvestre: 3 – No comment.

Clichy: 7,5 – The only one giving it all from start to finish. Other players should look at him and take him as an example of how an Arsenal player should approach and play in such games.

Sagna: 6,5 – Struggled on the right though it must be said that he was offered no help at all by Walcott so in the end, Bacary did all he could and you’ve got to appreciate that.

Denilson: 5 – Some nice interceptions but watching Barcelona players – especially Messi – race past him with incredible ease was painful to see.

Nasri: 5 – He tried. Even Cesc would have struggled out there, it was hell on earth in that part of the midfield.

Diaby: 5,5 – Hot and cold. The one who won the ball and started the move which saw us take an early lead but vanished as the game progressed. It’s a shame, really, I though the could do a lot of damage to Barcelona over the two legs, but he didn’t.

Rosicky: 3 – Nothing worth mentioning on the Czech. He had one golden opportunity but blasted it. The mind goes back to why Carlos Vela was not even in the squad as surely he couldn’t have done any worse.

Walcott: 5 – He had very little to do in the offensive department, though did OK when called in to action. I was therefore disappointed to see him offering little or no help in the defensive department.

Bendtner: 6,5 – Again, again and again. He is not a lonely striker, never will. He failed to control the ball twice in very good positions, chances which a Robin van Persie would have maybe scored to help you understand what I mean. But he scored, and kept the ball well at times but seriously, he needs support up there.

(Subs)
Eboue: 5 – Way too many balls given away cheaply although he made a number of good runs down the right.

Eduardo: No Vote – No impact whatsoever.