Barcelona 3 - 1 ArsenalLuis Suárez acrobatics end Arsenal’s unlikely resistance at Barcelona
Home team scorersJunior Neymar 18
Luis Suarez 65
Lionel Messi 88
Away team scorersMohamed El-Nenny 51
agg. 5-1
Arsenal went out of the Champions League as expected, felled by the usual suspects. First Neymar, then Luis Suárez and finally Leo Messi scored goals to take them to 106 between them this season and with it Barcelona into the quarter-final. Neymar set them on their way, Suárez produced a superb scissor-kick to settle their nerves, and Messi rounded off the night with the kind of goal that he has made his own, his dinked finish characteristically impeccable.
Arsenal headed home but they may feel that they did not depart entirely empty-handed. Going through was always unlikely after the first leg, Wenger describing it as “95% over”, and the tie that ultimately finished 5-1 on aggregate only momentarily seemed even slightly open, yet there was some value in this visit. There was no victory, but there rarely is for Barça’s opponents: 38 games have passed since the last time they lost and this was a 10th consecutive Champions League win at the Camp Nou.
Arsenal’s manager said that a good performance would give his side a boost for the league title race that he insists is “more open than people think”, and he will feel that he got that against a side that they surely know to be superior. There were chances, moments of good football too, something to cling to. And for all the superb performers in the Barcelona team, Javier Mascherano stood out; his tackles ultimately as telling as others’ touches.
Messi had the first chance, superbly bringing down Neymar’s diagonal pass and forcing an excellent save from David Ospina before Barcelona went 1-0 up after 18 minutes. Gabriel’s pass was loose, Suárez and Messi spotted it and so did Neymar on the left, setting off in anticipation. The Argentinian stepped back, leaving the Uruguayan to slot a diagonal ball into the path of Neymar, who controlled and guided it in at the near post.
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Neymar had run in behind Héctor Bellerín and the sensation soon became a familiar one. Bellerín is fast but he was faced by two players who might just be faster: Neymar and Jordi Alba. He was prepared to run at them – he and Alba had already taken each other on in a sprint up the line – but they were prepared to run at him, too. Barcelona progressed through the middle, where Andrés Iniesta’s smooth control was stunning at times, but the game tilted more often towards their wing.
It tilted Barcelona’s way, too. Alba, legs whirring, zipped up the left. A lovely run won a corner and then, a minute later, he found Neymar, whose shot was saved. Arsenal may not have truly thought they had a chance of going through but they had started positively and although Barcelona threatened to take control after the goal, they stepped up once more. If Barcelona ran at Bellerín, he ran back at them.
A superb sprint up the wing created the best of the chances, his curling cross headed wide by Alexis Sánchez. The chance was a good one and the assist invited a better finish. That was part of a flurry of opportunities around the half hour. Alex Iwobi, in particular, was active and there was a penalty appeal when he went down. He and Danny Welbeck then produced a neat one-two inside the area that ended with Welbeck hitting wide at the near post.
Arsenal did not get the goal they sought before the interval, but they did soon after. Sánchez had gone at his former team a couple of times in the opening 45 minutes, one impressive touch, turn and dash standing out, and now he headed up the right and pulled the ball back to Mohamed Elneny near the edge of the area, by the D. The first-time finish was superb, the ball curling into the top corner.
Arsenal needed two more goals but there was the smallest hint of nervousness at the Camp Nou now, particularly when Welbeck broke through. Jérémy Mathieu misjudged a header, leaving the England striker heading towards goal but Mascherano was swift and did what Mascherano does. Sliding in, he made a challenge that while not as significant, was reminiscent of the tackle on Niklas Bendtner that changed his career in a last-16 match against Arsenal during March 2011.
Sergio Busquets had to make a sharp block soon after as Barcelona no longer seemed in complete control. But then a moment’s inspiration, the kind which never seems far away with this team, and it was over. Suárez ended it with a fabulous goal. Messi carried the ball forward and found Neymar, who spread the ball right. There was Dani Alves, well inside the Arsenal area, to curl a cross towards the Uruguayan, alone on the other side.
Suárez leapt, twisted his body and connected with a scissor-kick above waist height, sending a volley flying into the top corner for his 42nd goal of the season.
At the other end, Welbeck hit the near post just after and then Marc-André Ter Stegen made a superb double save, diving to reach Sánchez’s curling free kick before leaping to his feet to stick out a hand and block the follow-up from Olivier Giroud. But this was all over now. It had been for a fortnight.
There was just one thing missing and eventually Barça found that, too. With two minutes remaining Neymar played it to Messi who controlled and lifted the ball gently over Ospina and into the net.
