In London, Barça and Arsenal have played their first of two in the Champions League quarter finals, and although Barcelona outplayed Arsenal in virtually every way, the north London squad still pulled out a draw under shady circumstances.
The game opened up with Barcelona lashing Arsenal's defense and taking shot after shot after shot in the first fifteen minutes of play. But as dazzling as their attacks may have been, the back of the net went unmoved. Ibra could not connect. It was a completely frustrating opening filled with the loud "Oh"'s and yells that accompany effort that nearly makes it, but somehow manages to fall short.
Fabregas, playing against his boyhood team, his country and culture--went into the game with one yellow card. Around the twentieth minute he picked up another against Busquets and cancelled himself from playing in the next. Arsene Wenger sent Arshavin off the field after he picked up a yellow, looking to avoid a similar misfortune for next week's game at the Blaugrana.
By the half it was level at nil, with the British commentators left to marvel at how outplayed Arsenal was. Something like 15 shots to Arsenal's one. 70% of possession. The game could have been 4-0 by the half.
It was with that frustrated momentum that Barça took the field for the second half, and on the first play, Pique passes to Ibra who breaks free and taps the ball to send it arcing just over the keeper to bounce and land softly inside the wall of the net. 1-0. A minute later he's there again with only the keeper to beat. He does. 2-nil.
Within a few minutes, the crowd seems to be turning on their team. The London fans are pissed at the adolescent performance of their side. The sounds get surlier. Just when I start to pity Arsenal, they come up with a slick goal. We've got a game.
The problem is that the officials want more than a game; They want a vengeful miracle for Arsenal. This comes when Fabregas breaks out in front of the goal to take a shot in the games closing minutes. Puyol comes forward to him and tries to get some coverage on him from behind, sending the shot wide. But Puyol's block is ruled not only a foul, but a Red card. Barça's captain is sent off the pitch and will miss the next match as well.
The call was pure venom. It was like a hobbling of the team out of spite. "Oh, our captain will miss the next game in Barcelona? Guess what, tio, now we'll take yours out of the mix for that one too." On top of that, the penalty shot comes and Fabregas sends it past Valdes for the tie.
Fabregas immediately starts limping away from the goal. He is feeling a sharp pain. That's shame. A bullshit call has allowed him to equalize against the team of his country and family. The consolation is that he won't have to play in Barcelona and have his relatives booing him next week. In fact, his fitness is completely scalded. They weren't sure if he'd be up for the match after having some leg injury, and now after the game the ruling has come down that he will not play for the next six weeks. Wegner took chances with his line-up and put in players that were of questionable health. Their team next week will be softer than this one.
Though Barça's side next week will be short Puyol and Pique (who also got a damning yellow card in the second half), the team will surely have a vicious payback on their mind. They should have scored more. They got almost nothing out of Leo. Ibra didn't deliver on ten or more opportunities. Henry? Oh, he's the guy who walked around on the pitch for the last five minutes and got the applause that Kareem Abdul Jabar gets for showing up to watch the Lakers.
The teams played out the last minutes of the game resigned to the draw, as if the outcome had been determined long before the formality of the match. Maybe Barça were just putting us on. This is an aggravation on the road to their inevitable hoisting of the Cup at the end of May.
Maybe.
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