UCL Match Preview: Barcelona v Arsenal; A Pyrrhic Victory on the Cards?

Well, it’s here. The Champion’s League. To be honest I am not sure how I feel about it. Some moments I am numb and non-plussed, others, as was aptly put by Arseblog a few days ago – I just love it because well it’s Arsenal, my Arsenal, I love this team come hell or high water and I always love to see them play.

Today as we prepare for the match, I will likely experience both those emotions and more in the buildup. The fact is, I just don’t know how this is going to play out.

On twitter we’ve talking about “doing an Arsenal” or an achievement (good or bad) that is “just so Arsenal.” Well, it would be just “so Arsenal” for them to go the Camp Nou put on a performance that we haven’t seen in months but come up short. For a reference point – think back to ties versus Monaco, Bayern, and AC Milan in case you were wondering.

It still is a very high mountain to climb and there is nothing that tells us we are in for a good match. If we’re honest, Arsenal have been anything but good. Not even small victories can be had. You can’t find positives in any of the matches. We just haven’t shown any semblance of quality or consistent quality if you will over the last 3 months.

They go into a tie against a team that is on course to win another treble. They have one of the best front three in this generation in the likes of Messi, Suarez, and Neymar. While we did fairly well for 70 minutes against them – all it took was one little positional mistake and we were done. And that’s the thing, against this Barcelona team you have to be perfect in all aspects of the game. Something we’ve not been able to put together in any competition since around December.

My biggest worry is what we do with the ball when we have it. We know Barcelona are going to have most of the possession the key is being effective with the ball when we do have it. Unfortunately one of the most infuriating things (at least for me) of late has been our inability to possess the ball with any purpose or intent.

We’ll get the ball deep in our own third, make a pass or two, meet some pressure and pass back or force a bad pass that lately always gets intercepted. It puts us under unnecessary pressure and keeps us pinned back. Against Barcelona we need to take better care of the ball especially on the counter. We can’t let our counter-attack fizzle out because of poor passes and poor decisions.

The other big worry is what we do when are within the 18 yard box. For all the prowess of Barcelona’s attack – it’s not the best defensive unit in the world. In fact that defensive unit should buy their attackers gold watches or something for as many times as they’ve been bailed out.

Mesut Özil said it best:

“If we believe in ourselves and take our chances – last time we had chances but didn’t score – [we can do it]. We have to be ice cold in front of goal. If we have a chance, we have to score against such a big team.

“Every player knows that against the biggest clubs, we have to show our quality. Every player wants to play against the best team, so we have to have the opportunity to come to the next round.

When we get into the 18 we need to work not only their defense with movement within the box to open space but we need to get Marc Andre Ter-Steegen moving laterally. In the first leg we had our chances but we shot right at the keeper. We can’t waste the chances we have because they will be few and far between in this tie.

Players to Watch:
Arsenal. Alexis Sanchez. Alexis has been very un-Alexis this season. It looked against Tottenham he had turned a corner but it was short-lived. He is as dynamic a player as can be on his day. It would be nice if his day were today.

Barcelona. Lionel Messi. He is so simple in his movement, yet so effective. He doesn’t do fancy footwork, he does a simple drop of the shoulder to fake a defender and away he goes. He’s at the point where’d you think age would start to diminish his quality – it hasn’t.

Probable Lineups:

click to enlarge

Injuries and Suspensions:
Arsenal: Arteta (doubtful), Cazorla (knee), Wilshere (calf/shin), Rosický (thigh), Ramsey (thigh), Cech (calf), Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee)

Barcelona: Rafinha (knee), Sandro (hamstring), Gerard Pique (suspended)

Match Stats

Match Officials:
Referee: Sergei Karasev (RUS)
Assistant referees: Anton Averianov (RUS), Tikhon Kalugin (RUS)
Additional assistant referees: Sergei Lapochkin (RUS), Sergei Ivanov (RUS)
Fourth official: Nikolai Golubev (RUS)

Broadcast Info:
UK: BT Sport Europe, 19:45 GMT
US: Fox Sports 1, Fox Soccer 2 Go, ESPN3 (Spanish), 3:45 PM EDT

YAMA Predicts:
Barcelona 2 – 1 Arsenal

From the Manager’s:

Arsène Wenger, Arsenal manager
The key for us will be a solid defensive performance. We have to attack and that suits us. We will do that knowing that the magicians of Barcelona will demand a good defensive performance from ourselves. Koscielny is important for us because he has lots of pace and Barcelona are good on the counterattack.

We have won almost everywhere in Europe, but still not here and we need to do that now. Barcelona are in a good position, but we have a chance. Our approach wasn’t too bad [in the first leg]. We just lost our shape a bit after half-time and got caught on the counterattack.

I don’t think the football gods owe us anything, but I owe a lot to football. We want to come here and give a positive performance. We will play with passion and commitment and show our talent

Luis Enrique, Barcelona coach
[The 2-0 win in London] was a good result but it doesn’t change our approach. It is still an open match, our opponents are dangerous and we need to play very well to go through. Sometimes the match looks perfect because of the result, but there is always room for improvement. That’s why football is so complex – 11 players have to do the same things at the same time.

We have to try to handle quality players like Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez. We want to keep the ball as much as possible to avoid counterattacks – it will not be easy, but lately we have being doing that well. Alexis is a very important player for Arsenal and his national team. He is a quality player, fast and attacking, and he has improved his game since he went to Barcelona. We have to be careful with him.