FC Barcelona is widely-regarded as the best team in the world, but the Spanish champions could see their UEFA Champions League run ended today if it can't reverse a 2-1 first-leg loss to Arsenal when the sides face off today (2:45pm, Fox Soccer Channel).
The Gunners have the edge as they head to the Camp Nou, and are also boosted by the returns of Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie, who are both starting today.
Barcelona will be without starting defenders Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol, but will still be considered a good bet to erase its one-goal deficit.
SBI will be providing live commentary on today's match so please feel free to follow the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Live Commentary is after the jump):
If you’re gonna give cards for shooting a second after the whistle, why not for when five Barcelona players are in the box when Messi takes the penalty? Just a shady situation all around
Yes, trouble. Good on them for their possession stats and all their shots on goal, but the only numbers that mattered at the time of the red card were 1-1 and 2-3 aggregate.
The better team went through, but the underdog was playing with one hand tied behind its back.
The stoppage time was legit. There was a ~3 minute stoppage when Szczesny got injured and Almunia came on, then the Wilshere incident that everyone felt the need to get involved in added another minute or two, plus miscellaneous shorter stoppages.
Well said on the disparity between teams and leagues. The league I watch the most of is the German league as parity in financial rules actually makes for a good league. Sure Bayern have won a ton, but look at this year? The year before last?
Hanover has gone from almost relegation to 3rd place in one year. Just a better league to watch. Spain, Italy and England are complete wastes of time with little to no drama each year.
Aren’t they going to crack down on team spending starting next year??
Arsenal didn’t have Fab, Song, Walcott, their goalie, then RVP…this was NOT the team that played Barca at Emirates. So hold your judgement kind sir about woodshed talk…maybe if Arsenal had all their players, sure.
And even IF Fab was on the field, he wasn’t even close to full fitness for this match and shouldn’t have played at all.
Adrian,
So because the ref missed a call earlier makes it right to blow a call later?
Total joke of a call on that second yellow. It’s pretty obvious that UEFA need Barca to progress.
I think why everyone’s upset at Barca is because they do look for the foul, anytime there’s contact, no matter how hard or soft. Makes them look spoiled. Makes it difficult to call everything as a ref…but he did not do a good job on either side.
Arsenal didn’t even have key players fit on offense, this was never going to be their game, no matter the ref.
Seriously dude, you’re defending Alves?!!! hahahahaahahahaha!!!!
+1
He’s injured.
How about the 5 extra minutes at the halftime?? What the #$%#?!!!!! The refs were paid…everytime with Barca.
It’s funny to watch these Europeans slowly kill off their own leagues. The difference between the teams tonight? Barca can go an spend as much as they need to secure a Villa or Alves, but Arsenal have limits, despite being weathly. Tell me what is the motivation is for a Getafe, Atletico, or even Valencia fan to go and spend money at a game? Even the “Champions League” has an increasingly dire stratification. Forget the terrible ref for a sec and think about the disparity between these two well coached teams. Arsenal have a spending limit; Barca don’t have one. Also, can we cool the talk of Messi and GOAT. First, it is way too soon and we, as fans, are rpone to overrating what we see in the present. Second, could he play with better players? It’s much easier to look great when you are surrounded by amazing players at every single position, and this is something that, frankly, has to be counted against him. And I speak as someone who enjoys how Barca plays.
Robin Van Persie is becoming a thug like his pal DeJong! It amazes me that a guy who almost lost his career to a brutal challenge vs Italy, came back looking for revenge in every sigle game. I can’t stand the guy or most of that dutch team.
The ref should be ashamed of himself. Since when and where is that RvP shot afterte whistle a red card? Complete joke
Agreed. 🙂
Arsenal was taken behind the woodshed. They were gifted an own goal.
I don`t support Barca or Arsenal. But in my opinion the scoreline over the two legs doesn`t reflect the gulf in class between those two sides. It would have been a travesty if Arsenal had eliminated Barca regardless of the extremely harsh decision against van Persie.
there was 1 second between the whistle and when RVP kicked the ball. pitiful.
Trouble?
70% possession and like 10 SOG is trouble? Barca was schooling Arsenal before.
Arsenal clearly did not deserve a result here, we were just awful but common the ref was horrendous. Choking a player doesnt get you any sort of card? im looking at you abidal. also that is the worst yellow ive ever seen, no reasonable ref would give a second yellow for kicking the ball away one second after he blew the whistle.
It kind of spoiled watching the game… does that count? After the red card Arsenal went to a 4-5-0. No one moved up to play Van Persie’s role, there was no outlet for the few times Arsenal did have the ball. The game became, imho, much less interesting as a spectacle (although even before the red card, the game was much less entertaining than the first leg).
I also don’t think anyone is saying Arsenal lost because Van Persie got sent off (and if they are, they’re delusional). But I do think people are upset at the -way- he got sent off. If he had been sent off for putting his hand in Alves’s face, no one would say anything other than how stupid RVP was to do that. But, he wasn’t. He was sent off for kicking the ball literally a second after the whistle had blown, without any indication that he had heard the whistle (didn’t pause, didn’t pick his head up). That’s what people are upset about. Should he have already been gone? Yes. Does that make his sending off for not hearing the whistle fair? I say no, although I can see why some people are saying it was just making up for the previous incident. But if you go back to that, then there’s the question off the entire group confrontation, where no one was so much as yellow-carded. I think that was the reason the ref didn’t red card RVP for the hand in the face, because he hadn’t even yellow carded anyone in the group confrontation where there were numerous hands in faces and even hands around necks.
But I digress.
I should also note we should avoid having tunnel vision when it comes to poor reffing decisions.
Wasn’t Barca denied a legit goal due to a poor call in the first leg?
Slippery slope…
Barca was having trouble until RVP was sent off. They are better but they weren’t getting the same looks on goal before the red. Barca is better but Arsenal had a chance until the send off.
Adrian- The Barca players go down easier than a cheerleader on prom night. Exaggerated diving is all part of their “style”.
OK, bad decision by the ref but I don’t equate that to “barca cheating”. Basically it means we never know who was going to be the rightful winner of this one.
Arsenal can feel they were wronged, but I don’t think you can safely say they would have gone through. They were badly outplayed prior to the sending off…