Olivier Giroud feels Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s superb save to keep out his header just seconds before Lionel Messi’s opening goal could define Arsenal’s Champions League tie with Barcelona.
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But despite Messi having one of his quieter nights, the magical Argentine walked off the pitch with two goals and Barcelona’s passport to the quarter-finals in his hands following a typically handsome – and brutal – display of his killer instinct.
Yet last season’s finalists, who have been in superb form in recent months, refused to surrender, and staged a scintillating second-half comeback to leave the tie open after a frustrating finish for the Germans.
In 2010 he scored four times in the last 16 second leg to send Barca through and a year later he struck twice in a 3-1 win in Spain after Arsenal had edged the first leg.
“Luckily I was able to score against Petr Cech, but above all you have to highlight the great performance that we put in today, against a top team”.
Arsène Wenger’s players overcame their early apprehension and developed the belief that they could even claim a crucial and unexpected advantage ahead of the return game in Catalonia.
“We were not cautious enough of their counter-attack, which is a model counter-attack, and then they finished it well”.
The Catalans began to move through the gears though and either side of halftime wasted two glorious chances.
“There is always something positive we take from this game and we go to Manchester United because we want to compete in the Premier League”.
But skipper Mertesacker said: “We will take positives from this game”.
“We’re really happy with the result we got”, he said. Obviously, we needed to score at one point, then we could have put pressure on them and they would have to come at us.
Pique received a yellow card for the challenge.
Despite the defeat, former Tottenham and England midfielder Jermaine Jenas thought Arsenal gave a good account of themselves.
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However, despite the temptation to rotate his team given their pursuit of the Premier League title, determination to retain the FA Cup and belief they are effectively out of Europe, Wenger is determined to field a strong team in the second leg at the Camp Nou.
