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Match

Marcador del partit

Date: Wednesday, 31 Mar
Competition: ???label.competicio1???
Stadium: Emirates Stadium, London

Resultat:

Arsenal: 2
FC Barcelona: 2

Match report

Match Report
Pre-Match

Match Report

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Goals

0-1 Ibrahimovic (min 46)
0-2 Ibrahimovic (min 59)
1-2 Walcott (min 69)
2-2 Cesc (min 84)

Bittersweet end to an incredible match (2-2)

Jordi Clos

After a stunning first half performance from Barça had ended goalless, two goals from Ibrahimovic looked to have sealed a convincing win at the Emirates. But two late Arsenal goals from Walcott and Fabregas meant it ended all square on a great night.

The first quarter of an hour saw the Catalans produce a lesson in football that left the Emirates Stadium in an almost silent daze. An almost eerie silence fell over the stadium, with the only noise coming from the 3,000 travelling fans as Barça produced nine shots, five of which were on target, in fifteen minutes of brilliance, while the Arsenal players seemed little more than eleven more spectators. Barça could easily have been three up in that time, had not been for some simply outstanding goalkeeping from Manuel Almunia, including three seemingly impossible interventions when Xavi, Messi and Ibrahimoviz all saw point blank chances thwarted.

It took Arsenal 20 minutes before Nasri finally produced a shy attempt on Valdés’ goal, and as the half moved on, the Gunners slowly started finding their feet. But if it wasn’t bad enough for Arsene Wenger to see his young side so totally outclassed on their home turf, he soon had new problems to contend with. First Russian striker Arshavin hobbled off, then William Gallas called for a change too, and next his captain Cesc Fabregas was somewhat harshly yellow carded, meaning the Catalan will be suspended for his long awaited return to the club that discovered him. Yet despite all of that, Arsenal had managed to hold on, and it was 0-0 at the break.

Ibra bags a brace

It didn’t stay that way for long. Within 30 seconds of the restart, the previously impeccable Almunia was caught way off his line, and Ibrahimovic brilliantly lobbed him to put FCB into a more than thoroughly deserved lead. 12 minutes later and the same man silenced his recent critics in splendid style by making it two. The Swede cleverly broke the offside trap trademark to latch onto the end of a trademark Xavi pass, and deftly sent the ball into the top right hand corner of the net. 2-0, and game over. Or so it seemed.

Arsenal pull one back

Pique was yellow carded shortly after the second goal, but at the time it hardly seemed to matter that he will miss the return leg, as it left him with a clean sheet for what now looked like an inevitable semi final to follow. But then, just moments after coming on, Theo Walcott turned Maxwell on the edge of the area and followed that with a brilliant run that he ended by slipping the ball under Valdés’ body.

The goal suddenly brought a glimmer of hope back to the devastated home side, but in the meantime, there was time for a standing ovation in honour of Thierry Henry as he returned to the club where he spent eight glittering years.

Red card and penalty

Barça were still in total control of possession, but other than a Messi one on one with Almunia, the chances weren’t flowing anything like they were in the first half. And then disaster struck in the 83rd minute. Cesc was through on goal, but Carles Puyol managed to get a foot in the way. The referee deemed that that was not only worthy of being penalised with a penalty, but with a red card too.

The Catalan coolly converted the equaliser from the spot, but spent the remainder of the game hobbling around with an injury, yet unable to come off because Wenger had already made his three changes. The minutes ticked by to bring an end to a night in which Barça produced the kind of display this new stadium is unlikely to have witnessed before, and one in which the home supporters were almost incredulous that they’d come out of it with a draw. There is still everything to play for when the action resumes at the Camp Nou next week.

Preview

Ones to watch

Thierry Henry goes back to the club where he made his name on the world stage and will be keen to impress. The other headline maker would be Cesc Fàbregas, but the doubts in the build-up over his fitness may mean that he will not have any say in the tie until the return next week in Camp Nou.

No quarter given at the Emirates

Roger Bogunyà

FC Barcelona take on Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday evening (20:45 CET, R@dio Barça) in the first leg of what promises to be a tantalising quarter final tie.

The two clubs have been touted as the most attractive sides left in the competition and nobody is expecting a defence-minded bore draw at The Emirates with the teams having scored 145 league goals between them so far this season. In a re-run of the dramatic 2006 Champions League Final the Blaugrana and Gunners will look to employ their special brands of passing, possession-based football with the Catalan club's technical secretary Txiki Begiristain predicting in the build-up that the winners will be the team that have to run after the ball the least.

Barça warmed up for the trip to London with a 1-0 win against Real Mallorca on Saturday evening as Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored for the third game in succession to lift his side back to the top of La Primera for 24 hours. The Gunners, meanwhile, were stunned when they conceded a late, late equaliser against Birmingham City as both Manchester United and Chelsea secured convincing wins to edge two points further ahead of Arsène Wenger's outfit.

Fàbregas doubtful, Abidal in

Cesc Fàbregas' knee injury has dominated the headlines in both the English and the Catalan media as the former Barça youth team starlet suffered a knock in the Gunners' game at the weekend. Wenger stated in the pre-match press conference that he would not decide on whether to field Fàbregas until he sees how he is in the warm-up before kick off. Arsenal have several players certainly out of action with Robin van Persie, Aaron Ramsey, Kieran Gibbs and Johan Djourou all sidelined.

Andrés Iniesta is definitely missing for FC Barcelona after tearing a muscle in his thigh against Mallorca on Saturday, but Guardiola was given a boost with the news that Éric Abidal is able to return to action for the first time since early February while Gerard Piqué is also back after missing the last few games.

Previous meetings

Four years ago Barça met Arsenal in Paris in the final of the Champions League in the most high profile meeting between the two clubs. Frank Rijkaard's Blaugrana team lifted the trophy after goals from Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti saw them come from behind following Sol Campbell's opening effort for the Gunners, who were reduced to ten men when Jens Lehmann was sent off.

FC Barcelona never played at Highbury as the only other time the two teams met in Europe came in the 1999/2000 Champions League group stage when Arsenal were using Wembley as their home ground in the competition. After drawing 1-1 in the Nou Camp in September, with goals from Luis Enrique and Nwankwo Kanu, Barça recorded an emphatic 2-4 victory in England with Rivaldo, Luis Enrique, Luis Figo and Philip Cocu all scoring for the visitors while Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars replied for the hosts. Thierry Henry was on the bench for Arsenal in both those matches. While Barça progressed as winners of Group B, Arsenal finished third behind Fiorentina.