Barcelona vs Arsenal : Five Things We Learned
By Vijay Vemu
3. Arsenal did not giving up and it costed them
Coming into this game, Arsene Wenger and his men were huge underdogs. Many were predicting a scoreline of 3-0 or 4-0 in favor of Barcelona. But credit to Wenger’s men for making it a real game and making the Catalans sweat, especially in the second half. Barcelona controlled 74% possession at halftime yet you had the feeling that Arsenal were still in this game. In the second half Arsenal had a number of quality chances but were denied by Marc-Andre ter Stegen and the Barcelona defense. It looked like Arsenal were bound to score. They started to get more comfortable in attacking and kept pushing the Catalans back. Even when they were down a goal they kept pushing for the equalizer. Then disaster struck.
The second goal was the real killer for Arsenal. First a poor challenge by Mathieu Flamini and it happened because Barcelona were able to get the ball on the counter again. We saw with Bayern last year against Barcelona how chasing a goal can cost you against the Catalans. The counterattack is too lethal. If not for Luis Suarez hitting the post, it could have been three goals on the counter for Barca. Arsenal didn’t give up playing and that was good, but their over eagerness to score costed them.
Next: 2. Barcelona on the counter