JUST THE SAME OLD STORY
Arsenal ready to wave the white flag
THERE was an appeal before kick- off for Arsenal supporters to wave red and white plastic bags in the air when the teams emerged from the tunnel. The Champions League second round is their final these days.
To think that when these two sides met in the 2006 Champions League final, they could only be separated by Juliano Belletti’s 80th-minute winner at the Stade de France.
It says everything about the gulf between the two clubs that Arsene Wenger gave Arsenal a ‘five per cent chance’ of somehow clawing this tie back.
To hear Barcelona’s pocket of travelling supporters sarcastically shouting ‘ Ole’ every time they touched the ball in the final minutes was a humiliation for Arsenal.
By then the European champions were 2-0 up, with Lionel Messi’s goals as good as putting Arsene Wenger’s team to bed for another season.
When they wake up, there will be a reminder that Arsenal must travel to the Nou Camp to play out the second leg of this last-16 tie on March 17. It promises to be an uncomfortable evening.
Arsenal were cuffed 5-1 in the group stage against Bayern Munich inside the Allianz Arena and the Nou Camp threatens another mauling. They are not good enough, certainly not at this level.
Wenger’s team have not qualified for the Champions League quarterfinals in five years. Soon that statistic will be a depressing six.
To think that Wenger made nine changes to his team for the FA Cup fifth-round tie against Hull City on Saturday to help his first choices prepare for Barcelona.
‘It is disappointing because I knew Barcelona would tire in the last 20 minutes, but they can hurt you most when you think you are on top,’ admitted Wenger.
His touchline reaction to Messi’s opener was typical, watching his team outclassed by the mesmerising runs of Neymar, Luis Suarez and the main man as they sliced through Arsenal.
Until that moment the home side had been in decent shape, fiercely resolute as Barcelona’s fabled front three failed to get into their stride.
‘It will be difficult, if not impossible to get through now, but we had chances,’ added Wenger. They did, but in this company they have to be taken.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fluffed the best in the first half when he was presented with a gift inside the area, but any game against Barcelona needs players who are capable of steadying themselves in front of goal. Olivier Giroud, usually so reliable on occasions when he has to put a shift in alone up front, was guilty of a miss. He was dreadful. Wenger admitted: ‘ We had an unbelievable chance, but in the final third we are missing something at the moment. ‘No dressing room is happy when you lose 2-0 at home in the Champions League.’ They have been found out again, coming up short against this Barcelona side determined to win the European Cup for a sixth time. They have an unstoppable feel about them.
Luis Enrique’s team were far from their best at the Emirates and that is perhaps the saddest indictment of all about this Arsenal team — Barcelona did not need to be.
Alexis Sanchez (left), for all his hard work and lung-busting recovery runs to retrieve the ball for his team, spent most of the game throwing his arms into the air in frustration.
He was annoyed with Francis Coquelin when the Arsenal midfielder failed to find him with a simple sideways pass at the start of the second half. When Barcelona scored their first goal there was more of the same.
This was set up to be Sanchez’s night, with the former Barcelona wide man wearing flame-coloured boots when he walked out of the tunnel. He, like his team, look burned out now.
When they did spark it was usually through the combination play of Mesut Ozil and Sanchez, but the rest of this Arsenal team cannot function at that level.
Wenger turned to Danny Welbeck, the man who scored the dramatic winner against Leicester in his first game for Arsenal for nine months following injury.
It was a desperate measure, throwing him on in place of the disappointing Giroud to give Arsenal’s attack some muchneeded presence.
By then they were a goal down, caught out when Neymar dispatched the killer pass across the face of goal for Messi to turn inside big Petr Cech. He added the second from the spot.
It gives Barca a healthy advantage — a significant lead to take back to the Nou Camp for next month’s second leg.
When Arsenal get there, they can welcome the team with white flags.