Arsenal Vs. Barcelona: Arsenal Win First Leg 2-1 After Late Robin Van Persie, Andrei Arshavin Goals

With Bendtner lurking at the far post, Valdez had too much of an eye for the cross, and vacated his near side only for a slide-rule finish from van Persie to catch him out. Arsenal are now well and truly back in this tie at 1-1. Is more to come?

Why is this important? Pique was already on a yellow card, a holdover from the group stages, and with this latest booking he’ll be ruled out of the second leg at the Nou Camp in three weeks, leaving Barcelona once again with an under-strength defence. Captain Carlos Puyol may be available by the time the return fixture comes up, but either way the Catalans will be without their first-choice centre half pairing when they next meet up with Arsenal in March.

Lionel Messi’s superb assist to David Villa has been the main difference in this 2011 UEFA Champions League tie between Arsenal and Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium, with their 26th minute combination for a goal giving the Blaugranas a 1-0 lead over the Gunners. Not surprisingly, Barcelona have done very well to hold possession, their traditional forte, especially with Sergio Busquets and Pedro re-joining the lineup after being left out this weekend.

Much of the pre-match focus was on Cesc Fabregas, but the midfield battles between Jack Wilshere and Busquets have been much more interesting. There is a lot of quality on the pitch with no one having a poor game by any stretch of the imagination, but Wilshere and Busquets have arguably shone brighter than the other four central midfield players on the pitch, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Fabregas, and Alex Song. Wilshere has combined his complete skill set with a spectacular work rate so far, while Busquets has shown off the positional sense and passing ability that has kept him preferred to Javier Mascherano since the Argentinian’s arrival.

Nasri had told L’Equipe that he was ready to play. Still, the French international left open the possibility he would not be selected. With the announcement of today’s lineup, we see Arsène Wenger has elected to overlook any risks and start his best XI.

Arsenal Starting XI: Szczesny - Eboué, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy - Song, Wilshire, Fabregas - Walcott, van Persie, Nasri

Those two will be joined in defense by Dani Alves (right back) and Gerard Piqué. Victor Valdes gets the start in goal.

Barcelona Starting XI: Valdes - Alves, Piqué, Abidal, Maxwell - Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta - Messi, Villa, Pedro

Unfortunately for Arsenal, nobody knows, all the more reason why the Gunners’ boss must always stay optimistic. Be it one a small scale (the constant claims his teams actually had the better of matches where they post disappointing results) or large (the insistence the squad is better), Wenger has to stay looking forward, even if it requires blinders.

For Wenger, comparing this year’s team with last may represent a false dichotomy. In the Arsenal boss’s mind, last year’s team was not real Arsenal, as he explained to Jamie Jackson in today’s Guardian:

In quote appearing in The Telegraph, Messi called Walcott a player that “truly worried us.”

In the near-year since that performance, I’ve wondered if we were romanticizing Walcott’s play. His speed gave Arsenal a spark when they were down 0-2, seemingly prepared to be destroyed throughout the remaining 120 minutes of the tie. Was Walcott, who only registered one (successful) shot in the tie, that great? Or was it his spark - and the contrast of that spark with the dour state of Arsenal before his substitution - what we’re really speaking laud? One is greatness. One is relative greatness.

And that match that may have marked a turning point in Lionel Messi’s career. Already considered the best player in the world, Messi had yet to have that single, transcendent performance before Barcelona hosted Arsenal last spring. He’d always played well in big matches - braces in Clasicos and goals in Champions League finals - but his resume still lacked a the kind of undeniable performance that could be used as ammunition in a ‘best of all time’ debate. Then, with his team down 3-2 in their Champions League quarterfinal, Messi found a there-to unknown gear, almost single-handedly lifting his team into the semifinals, the type of performance that will be conveyed to the next generation of fans with ‘I remember when’ stories (or commands to look it up on YouTube).

Including that match, Messi has scored 53 goals in his last 46 Barcelona matches, a rate which is amongst the most impressive in the game’s history when you consider it’s length as was as the level of competition he’s faced. But underscoring the uptick the stretch has represented, Messi only scored 38 goals in his preceding 46 matches. Put another way, in the last year Messi has increased his already prodigious goal scoring rate by 39 percent.