Barcelona versus Arsenal, what a memorable night for football.
Barcelona showed once again why they instil fear into their opponents, with
their style of play, players, and coach. Arsenal will have their share of
problems, but Barcelona will too. What are they exactly? Here are a few of
them:
Arsenal’s Pains
Andrey Arshavin, the Russian magician, will probably miss the
highly-charged return leg in Spain. Arsenal’s captain Cesc Fabregas will also
miss it, along with injured first-team choice William Gallas. That, with the
fact the Arsenal’s most dangerous striker Robin van Persie will be missing,
restricts Arsene Wenger’s choices to zero.
No one from the Gunners’ camp would like to see the one
dimensional Arsenal that this lack of first team players may cause at the Camp
Nou. It will only make life much easier for the Catalans-and they would love
that.
On top of that, the vulnerability of the Arsenal defence was
exposed by Barcelona-those long balls proved too hard to decode for Alex Song
and Thomas Vermaelen.
Zlatan Ibrahimovich’s two goals will certainly ring the alarm
bells for Wenger, and the players and will push them to improve their game and
mutual understanding in training.
Barcelona’s Pains
Barcelona, similarly, will miss both their first-team starters
at the back: Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol -hardly a problem you can easily
disregard.
The hopes of Arsenal are raised even more by other significant
factors. Despite the razor-sharp attack, Barcelona is vulnerable in the air, as
we all saw. The absences of the short Arshavin and Fabregas may prove to be not
as important as initially thought.
Another potential problem-causing issue for Pep Guardiola’s team
is their weaker physiques. We all saw how they pushed themselves to the limit
until the 70th minute at the Emirates, and then they crumbled. The reason they
conceded the first goal was more due to fitness than to psychology.
The team’s physical energy limits were drained due to their
incessant attempts to win the ball and keep it in their possession. Every time
when Arsenal won the ball, or attempted to make a counter-attack, at least
three Barcelona players were at them, trying to close them down, and win the
ball back. While being a very effective part of total football, this tactic is
very tiring to the players.
Wenger ingeniously kept the extremely quick Theo Walcott for the
closing part of the game, when the players clad in yellow were beginning to
breathe heavier. The potential choice for the England national side was a big
pain for the Catalans, ripping through the left side of their defence like a
knife through butter. The England manager, Fabio Capello, who was watching the
match, must have been impressed.
Conclusion
Barcelona are the clear favourites. Arsenal has much to avenge
for against this specific enemy, but it will not be about that this time. It
will be about proving their worth against probably the best team in the world.
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