Arsenal have only themselves to blame

Firstly, before Arsenal throw their toys out the cot blaming ref Massimo Busacca, they must remember they had 90 minutes in which all they needed to do was match Barca goal for goal on an aggregate basis.

That is all. Teams often come to the Nou Camp with greater tasks than theirs. They must remember that it was they who failed to learn the lessons of the first leg and let Messi run rampant. They could not have expected that he would forget his shooting boots again. Surely?

Arsenal chose to take the Stoke approach to the game in the first. A move that was both admirable and naive. Admirable because it was the last thing Barcelona, or anyone really, would have expected. Arsene Wenger’s boys are a lot of things; skilful, extravagant, wasteful and slick. Niggling scrappers they are not. And my love for Arsenal is primarily based on Wenger’s stubbornly purist approach to the beautiful game.

You could see Barcelona struggling to get to grips with the edgy, niggling harassment by the boys in the horrid, puke-yellow kit.

It was however naive because though referees in the UK, raised on a diet of such football thuggery, are more lenient towards such, a European ref at a hallowed institution of the beautiful game on a European night was not about to tolerate such. Neither would he have taken the constant whingeing, petulance and harassment by Arsenal in the manner that English refs almost indulgently let Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Steven Gerrard and co harass and verbally abuse week in week out.

If Arsenal were playing Blackburn at Stamford Bridge on a cold, wet January night, those tactics could have helped them. Not in the Champions League at the Camp Nou.

The end result was that Arsenal conceded yellow cards and annoyed the ref. Granted, referees are supposed to blow each incident on the field of play on merit. But they must also take into cognisance the behaviour of players and the team as a whole. Especially when order needs to be restored to the game.

Robin van Persie’s offence may have been borderline, and the yellow card soft, but Arsenal had been asking for it. They cannot blame the ref for having enough and taking action.

That being said, in the late stages of the game, Jack Wilshere, another who showed worrying petulance and niggle in the first half, did well to find substitute Nicklas Bendtner with a cross late in the game. Bendtner did well to get in ahead of Sergio Busquets, with Victor Valdez caught in no man’s land between Bendtner and his goal.

Then he took a clumsy touch and the ball bobbled into Valdez’s grateful arms courtesy of interference by Busquets. Had Bendtner done better with that opportunity, a first-time shot, a more measured touch forcing a foul from Busquets or creating space for himself, Arsenal could have scored and levelled the scores on aggregate. We all know who that situation would have favoured.

As it was, losing a game where they were shorn of creativity, key players went missing (Van Persie, Tomas Rosicky, I am looking at you here) no shots on goal were taken and rare opportunities squandered. Arsenal have no-one to blame but themselves.

This article first appeared on www.newstime.co.za