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MOTD: Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal

By on March 16, 2016

Arsenal are the latest team to have been felled by the merciless trident of Barcelona’s front line as the Blaugrana continued their romp through Europe.

The 3-1 win was the comfortable victory Barca had been looking for, the affirmation of their prowess after a 2-0 win in the first leg.  Only briefly did Arsenal appear to have a glimmer of hope after Mohamed El-Nenny’s equalizer; ultimately, however, the brilliance of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar was too much for the Gunners to handle. First Neymar scored, then Suarez and Messi, each finish outdoing the prior.  Their combined tally now stands at an absurd 109 goals so far this season.

Arsene Wenger’s men are in respectable company: Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and Roma have all been resoundingly defeated by Barca since early October and their win today stretched their undefeated streak to thirty-eight matches in all competitions.  In that time, they have allowed just twenty-one goals and scored 114.

Arsenal left the Nou Camp empty-handed but not empty of heart.  Progression was always highly unlikely after the first leg in London and El-Nenny’s lovely second-half equalizer threatened to turn the tie on its head, if only until Suarez’s response.  Danny Welbeck also hit the crossbar shortly afterward.

“It was a team performance and the quality was good,” said Wenger, per Arsenal’s official website. “I’m disappointed with the result but we played against a team with the best strikers I have seen play together. It is exceptional, they can make chances from nothing. We could not take our chances to [find] a second goal that would put us in a strong position tonight but after they scored and it was 2-1, our belief was less than when it was 1-1. We had chances and Barcelona are an exceptional side.”

Currently, there isn’t a team in the world at Barca’s level of prowess and the only things that stands in their way of an historic consecutive Champions League title in May are potential injuries and their own focus.

Boss Luis Enrique quipped: “The only team I don’t want to face [in the Quarterfinals] is Barça, and since it’s a certainty that we won’t…”

It took them just eighteen minutes to bag an early goal to all but close out the tie, with Suarez feeding in Neymar down the left side of the box and the Brazilian making no fuss with the finish.

In the fifty-first minute, El-Nenny curled a beautiful first-time finish into the top-right corner of the net from the edge of the box and Welbeck also hit the crossbar from a tight angle to the left of goal.

Nevertheless, Barca were always in control of the tie.  Andre ter Stegen pulled out a fantastic stop to block Alexis Sanchez’s dipping free-kick from thirty-five yards and blocked Olivier Giroud’s follow-up effort with a strong arm.  To think that Barca have two interchangeable goalkeepers of this quality.

“They’re decisive, very complete, and that’s why we signed them,” said Enrique, per Barca’s official website. “We can use them both in both competitions. Their performance is above optimal.”

All things considered, “above optimal” described Barca’s performance as a whole.
Suarez put them back in front in the sixty-fifth minute, winding up a spectacular side-volley to scythe Dani Alves’ cross form the right into the top right corner with a leaping side-volley from fifteen yards.

Messi made the last blow, clipping a dainty chip over David Ospina after breaking into a pocket of space with three Arsenal defenders on his coattails.

Wenger could only stop and marvel at their brilliance.

“We could have taken the dangerous situations we created. Barcelona, going forward in the final third with the quality of passing and creativity, Messi was absolutely exceptional. He went for 90 minutes and came out of the game without missing a first touch, no matter where the ball came from. Barcelona have two or three players who can transform normal life into art.”

The win takes Barca into the last eight of the competition for a record nine consecutive seasons.  They’re also poised for a Copa del Rey final in May against Sevilla, and sit with an eight point buffer at the top of the La Liga table, a second straight treble is still well within their reach.

Homepage photo credit: Alex Fau, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.