Messi magic too hot for Cesc

Posted Wednesday, March 09, 2011 by The Sun

Messi magic too hot for Cesc
We thought it was all over. A score of 1-0 was all Barcelona needed.

And then, incredibly, Arsenal were back in it as Sergio Busquets headed a Samir Nasri corner into his own net in the 53rd minute.

OK, a slice of luck. A moment of good fortune at a most opportune moment.

But if you are going to win against a team that had won seven and drawn two of its nine home knockout stage games in the last three years, then you need every break you can get.

Arsenal, it seemed, had got their's.

But there then followed one of those miscarriages of justice that seem to stalk Wenger's team.

Van Persie, already booked for a tame brush with the provocative Dani Alves, ignored the referee's whistle and went on to hammer a shot into the side-netting.

But there was no way it deserved the second yellow referee Busacca then produced.

It was a moment of gross over-reaction - the sort you get when the majority of a 95,000 home crowd are whistling and baying for blood.

And that was just about that for Wenger's team.

They somehow survived a further 14 minutes before Xavi's shot took a final deflection off Bacary Sagna - and two minutes later Messi made it 3-1 from the spot after Laurent Koscielny brought down Pedro.

Yes, another Arsenal goal would have put the Gunners through themselves but it was more a case of Almunia keeping the score down.

So another day and another tale of woe and misfortune for Arsenal. Not for the first time against Barcelona. Back in 2006, they just failed to climb a mountain in Paris after having goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sent off after 18 minutes in the Champions League final in Paris.

They scored first but Barcelona would eventually overhaul them.

Last night in a noisy, volatile and passionate Nou Camp, they lost another keeper - Wojciech Szczesny to a 17th-minute hand injury.

And then came the 55th-minute red card for Van Persie, a savage blow for a team that had just come back off the ropes to equalise at 1-1.

And so Arsenal's Champions League dream - not unexpectedly - is over for another season.

Next up? The small matter of an FA Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Once again Wenger is going to have to try and raise the spirits of a team for whom a demoralising collapse at the business end of the season has become all too familiar.

The sight of a lightweight Arsenal being elbowed aside by teams hungrier for success - and more accustomed to it - is now as natural as the rising of the sun in the morning.

Yes, as usual there were ifs and buts.

If Theo Walcott had been available. If Van Persie had stayed on. If he had been fully fit. If Fabregas hadn't had his brainstorm. Etc, etc.

Sadly, though, it's the same old story.

What Arsenal need right now is the very quality they have lacked on so many occasions over the last five years.

Character.

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