Champions League: Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal - 5 talking points
Barcelona celebrate their win against ArsenalBarcelona ran out as 3-1 winners in the Champions League round-of-16 return leg fixture, finally winning 5-1 on aggregate. The high energy encounter saw Barcelona take the lead as early as the 18th minute when Luis Suarez set up Neymar for the opener extending Barcelona’s lead to 3-0 over two legs.Arsenal kept up the pressure with occasional plays that worried the Barcelona defence but it wasn’t until the second half that they had something to show for their promise. Mohamed Elneny produced a magnificent 20-yard effort to level the scores at the Camp Nou. Arsenal would go on to put Barcelona under concerted pressure but goals from Luis Suarez and eventually Lionel Messi would wrap up the tie 5-1 in Barcelona’s favor over two legs.Let’s have a look at some of the talking points:
#1 Arsenal\'s team selection
With the tie heavily tipped in Barcelona’s favour after the fixture at the Emirates, Arsene Wenger needed his best team out on the pitch on the night and yet the Frenchman pulled a few surprises with the team sheet on the night.
He put out a team in which he handed Nigerian striker Alex Iwobi a start and preferred Danny Welbeck to Olivier Giroud up top. He also started Mathieu Flamini over Francis Coquelin which in spite of not being a major surprise raised a few eyebrows.
The line up seemed to be justifying itself on the night with Alex Iwobi putting out a high energy performance and Flamini starting the game with enough attacking intent but Danny Welbeck’s performance up top left a little to be desired.
He seemed a little off match fitness and starkly off sharpness when the ball was played into the final third. He did hit the bar at one point but had precious little to show for his efforts otherwise. Another factor worth discussing is the number of crosses and cutbacks Arsenal were pumping into the box.
If that indeed was the game plan, it would’ve served better to have an actual target man in the box. Olivier Giroud did eventually come on and had a little impact as well. Gabriel started the game with Koscielny but did reasonably well in an Arsenal backline that was being pushed deep all evening.
Even though Barcelona were too good for Arsenal, in the end, you do think if the game would’ve panned out differently if Giroud had started over Welbeck.