FC Barcelona win 5-1 on aggregate
Arsenal’s Champions League dreams came to an end this evening as they were beaten 3-1 by FC Barcelona at the Nou Camp, resulting in a 5-1 loss on aggregate.
The Gunners went into the game knowing it was borderline mission impossible after losing 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium thanks to a second-half brace from Lionel Messi.
Despite the impossible task, Arsene Wenger named a fairly strong side, however, the Frenchman did include Mathieu Flamini and Alex Iwobi in his starting XI which surprised the majority of fans.
Summary
It was a rather encouraging start from the visitors, with Mesut Ozil and Mohamed Elneny both creating half-chances for themselves, but on 18-minutes, they did find themselves 1-0 down.
Just moments after David Ospina managed to prevent Messi with a stunning save, the Arsenal back-line was carved open and Neymar slotted home past the Colombian.
Arsenal still attacked and still created openings, with Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez all having openings, but they just couldn’t turn those half-chances into goals.
They did manage to pull themselves level however early in the second-half as Mohamed Elneny thumped home from outside the box after a nice lay-off from Alexis.
Arsenal still needed two more goals, but hope was there.
However, 14-minutes later and that hope was taken away from them as Luis Suarez acrobatically volleyed home to restore Barca‘s lead.
It wasn’t over there however as Messi got himself on the scoresheet late on with a little dink over Ospina.
It ended 3-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate.
Match Reaction
Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck talking to BT Sport: “We had some chances, it was difficult to come here 2-0 down but we had a plan to get through. It was a difficult occasion for us and unfortunately we couldn’t get through.
“We had a couple of opportunities where we should have done better and with the quality they have then they are clinical when they have chances.
“Coming to the Nou Camp you really want to leave your mark, we could have done better in certain situations and it is disappointing.”
Arsenal teenage forward Alex Iwobi on his first Champions League start: “It’s something a 19 year-old will always dream of. It was an amazing experience and hopefully I will have more of these in the future.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
