Review: Arsenal 2 - Barcelona 2

Football, it's a strange, strange game indeed. For all the first half, it was deer in the headlights stuff. We were passed off the pitch, and when we did get the ball, it was nervy, second-grade stuff. Cesc, our captain, was everywhere and nowhere. He seemed to be in awe of the event, in awe of his future employers, and it showed. It transmitted itself to the team.

We were lucky to get in at 0-0. Almunia showing glimpses of just exactly what he's supposed to be good at. It was all in all, some miserable stuff, and you could only hope that with Almunia in good form, we could steal a goal just as Barca were looking slightly profligerate.

Immediately after the re-start, and all our old failings came racing back to haunt us. Kick off, a long hopeful ball, everyone asleep, Almunia especially, and Zlatan has the simplest of lobs over a non-existent goalkeeper. It wasn't quite surprising that we would get caught out for the cheapest of goals - which is fast becoming an Arse specialty in the Champions League. It's then one way street again - but every now and then, we do manage to string a couple of passes together, and when we do, we somehow make the Barca defence look slightly suspect as well. One brilliant move, and Bent Nick has a free header, only to put it straight at Valdes. Typical of our night, I thought. A couple of minutes later, another soft goal, with Zlatan again being given all the time in the world in the right-centre of our defence. Did anyone mention Clichy? Typical of our night and our season, I thought. Game, set and match. Two goals down at home to Barca. Just where could we go from here but down?

Then, it happened. Theo gets sent on. He puts some life into it, and with his first meaningul contribution, he scores. From not much. A nice move, but a weak-ish shot that gets under Valdes. I don't know why, but it looked like it'd only take 2 Barca goals to get the Arsenal team passing and playing with some intent.

Some more nice stuff, and then Barca comes on the wrong end of some crumbling as well. A nice touch from Nick to Cesc in the area, Cesc gets tumbled over by Puyol. Penalty, red card, goal - and it becomes clear what we'd achieved. Come from 2 down to draw level with Barca. For the last 5 minutes or so - any one of two things looked possible, a third from Arse or a third from Barca. 2-2 in the end, and a miracle had happened.

In terms of performance, this was more grit than anything else. A limpid performance, but at least the boys had balls. Which is more than could be said of Cesc, unfortunately. He'll miss the next leg, and with a suspected broken leg, he'll probably miss much more. But the occasion at the Nou Camp would probably have been too much for him. Penalty aside, he looked like someone out of his league, confined to irrelevance and awful passes by the Barca midfield. Messi was fortunately absent, and we were stil cut to shreds at will. For the return though, for now, we have a better option. Samir Nasri, who put in a mammoth of a performance in Cesc's absence. The Nou Camp will be his opportunity, and ours. Cesc may soon head towards the Nou Camp, but it'll be right there that Nasri could emerge as heir apparent in the middle of the pitch.

Looking ahead, Barca still are out there as firm favourites. They have the 2 away goals. But I would say we have the momentum. We'll have an incredible task ahead of us, to win at the Nou Camp. But we could just pull it off. Barca will lose Puyol. We'll have our own old war-horse in Sol Campbell though. Let's hope with TV, he'll put some steel back where we need it. Things are stacked against us, with Arsh out injured as well. But somehow, this team only seems to play when things are so aligned.

Let's see. For now, I'm getting tired of his Italian keyboard. Not as bad as a French one, I must admit, but still...

It was an adventure in itself getting a TV (not Thomas Vermaelen) near Milan that was not showing the Inter game last night, but for that, another day.

Ciao.