Tonight, Arsenal’s Champions League campaign will most likely be laid to rest at the Camp Nou with a big burden of overturning a 2-0 first leg defeat at the Emirates. The Gunners have been the subject of the media in recent times especially after being knocked out of the FA Cup by Watford. But the Gunners can still dare to dream.

Arsenal came close to knocking out Barcelona in 2011. The Gunners had one of their most memorable nights at the Emirates in the 1st leg of the last 16 as they came from behind to grab their only win over Barcelona with goals from Robin Van Pierse and Andrey Arshavin. The first leg ended 2-1 and there was all to fight in the return leg. A broken-Szc finger,, a Fabregas-assisted Iniesta assist for Messi,  an own goal to keep Camp Nou quiet,  a Van Pierse red detailed that night in Spain. The Gunners were beaten 3-1.

Then, three minutes into injury time, Messi struck.

Fabregas gave the ball away just outside the area. Andreas Iniesta collected and fed the Argentinean 12 yards out on the right of the area. He controlled it with one touch, flicked it up with another and managed to retain sufficient balance to hook it home with a third. – Arsenal.com

A year earlier, the Gunners came close to knocking Barcelona out of the Champions League at the Nou Camp. The victory lasted for just 21 minutes. Nicklas Bendtner scored want is still Arsenal’s only goal (excluding the own goal in the 3-1 defeat) at the Camp Nou in the 18th minute to put Arsenal in the driver’s seat following a 2-2 first leg at the Emirates.

In the 18th minute, Diaby thieved the ball in midfield and, with Barcelona horribly overstretched at the back, fed Walcott on the right. He had acres of space to run into and, within seconds, was baring down on keeper Victor Valdes.

The England winger elected to square the ball to onrushing Bendtner. Under pressure from Daniel Alves he could only stumble a shot at Valdes. But the rebound fell kindly and the Dane recovered quickly to stab the ball home. – Arsenal.com

Messi scored 4 goals to end the game 4-1 on the night and 5-3 on aggregate. The Gunners have been in the shadows of the Catalians and it seems they have enjoyed the shadows all the while.

Tonight, they have the chance to make history. It takes just 90 minutes at the Camp Nou.

Enjoy

@AmosCP

Advertisement