The Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal game from 2011 was very weird. Despite being so one-sided, Barcelona dominating and controlling the match so much while Arsenal didn't shoot even once, Barcelona wasn't really at their best, and obviously neither were Arsenal. It was a weird match. The Van Persie sending off overshadows too much the discussion of the match as a whole. I'll try to avoid this.
First, we need the context of the first leg. It finished with Arsenal winning 2-1 in one of the most brilliant UCL games of the decade, the speed of play, intense pressing, high line from both teams and, above all, the pure spectacle of skills, technique and precise passing in tight spaces with short time had been a marvel to behold. Barcelona went ahead and were truly brilliant in the first half and seemingly in total control of the match during almost the entire second half. Their football was astonishing and they superior for most of the game, but Arsenal was still pure class playing very high technical level football in their own right and created a good amount of great chances in counter-attacks. Still, Villa scored the first goal and Messi was uncharacteristically wasteful in front of the goal. Messi also had a goal wrongly ruled out as offside. Complacency slowly took over Barcelona, satisfied with a 1-0 victory away, while Guardiola inexplicably took out Villa, who had been Barcelona's best attacking player on the night, to put Keita! It must be one of the worst substitutions that Guardiola has ever made and perfectly showcases how complacent Barcelona had become in the match, thinking that the 1-0 victory was sure. Wenger, though, was great in his substitutions. Arsenal never stopped having good counter-attacks, never stopped believing. They scored two goals very late in the match and very quickly, leaving Barcelona truly dizzed and surprised, shocked at what had just happened in a match seemingly decided and in total control. Barcelona went back to attacking Arsenal, but the calmness and assuredness that had defined Barcelona in the whole match was gone. As Michael Cox wrote: "Barcelona had gone into their shell and found impossible to re-emerge as an attacking threat again". Arsenal's best player in the match was Wilshere.
Piqué was suspended for the second leg while Puyol was injured, meaning that Busquets and Abidal had to play as centre-backs. Mascherano had to be Barcelona's DM. Fábregas and Van Persie for Arsenal were coming from injury, not 100%, but still played. While the first leg had been a cracking game, the second leg was really dull in comparison. Not only it was a terribly one-sided game, but Barcelona didn't even need to play at their best levels, not even close, to have this ridiculous dominance. Arsenal, meanwhile, could not string 4 passes together, always well closed down by Barcelona's great pressing, and could not shoot once. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start from the beginning of the match. Barcelona was expected to attack Arsenal with devastating speed and precision from the very first minute, to score an early goal. It was how Barcelona usually played. But maybe the makeshift defence combined with Mascherano and midfield were responsible for the team changing this for the match. Barcelona started slowly, playing keep-ball, looking laborious and maybe too patient in attack. Barcelona was overly conservative and often sterile in the first half, probably not wanting to risk an Arsenal counter-attack, since Barcelona's defense in this match was obviously so far from ideal. Arsenal weren't unhappy with this scenario and, far more than Barcelona, also played a more conservative game than usual. Arsenal didn't really park the bus though, but they were seriously lacking quality whenever they tried to counter-attack and get through Barcelona's first excellent line of pressing, the opposite of how well they had played in the first leg.
Barcelona passed the ball in midfield well as usual, but they clearly looked off-color, edgy and imprecise in the final third. Barcelona had already started to look fatigued, off-color and imprecise like this in their four La Liga games after the first leg against Arsenal and before the second leg. Barcelona had won all of them, but were far from great and very well below their best. They were in a relatively poor run of form when it comes to the level of their football (in comparison to their crazily high standards of course). When I talk about Barcelona's problems in the final third during the second half, I mean that their though balls, triangulations, dribbling and passing combinations close to Arsenal's box were being really laborious and lacked sharpness and precision, not giving Arsenal too much trouble in intercepting all these passes. Bad decision-making was also a big problem. For example, Messi was being uncharacteristically selfish, trying to dribble everyone all by himself and, at least twice in the second half, Messi had a perfectly free teammate in great and better position to pass the ball, but Messi preferred to keep dribbling and eventually losed possession. Villa also had started his period of crisis in the season, in which he would spend months without scoring, lacking sharpness and overall confidence in his shooting and his skills. Pedro also was going through a slump. In the end, despite being overly cautions, Barcelona scored in the end of the first half a great goal by Messi with a great assist by Iniesta after again great pressing by Barcelona and a ludicrous backheel by Fábregas created the goal chance.
The first half also potentially had a penalty not given, when Messi was took down on the box's edge. Have your own opinions if it was a penalty or not, you can easily find it in highlights of the game. Other two controversial moments in the first half were Van Persie slapping Alves and only getting a yellow. This, if I'm not mistaken, was responsible for making Abidal really angry at Van Persie to the point that Abidal grabbed Van Persie's neck! The referee ignored complaints from both sides and didn't send off neither Van Persie and neither Abidal.
The second half started similarly as the first. Arsenal needed a goal, but were unable to trouble Barcelona or make any remotely decent count-attack. Arsenal was toothless and Barcelona in seemingly total control. Arsenal then was able, with a player individual run in the wing, to get a corner. Then Busquets terribly scored an own goal! Arsenal had scored a goal out of nowhere and Barcelona had to score more goals! This own goal, though, could add some urgency and speed to Barcelona's play that had previously lacked in the match. Right after the own goal, Barcelona was electrified and created a great chance! Then, Van Persie was sent off! I agree that it is one of the most baffling and weirdest sending offs that I ever saw. But I still hold my opinion that, of all 11 players that Arsenal had on the pitch, Van Persie's sending off was the least worse that it could happen. Van Persie was totally isolated and had barely touched the ball in the whole match, totally null. He was 100% and Arsenal could never get past the midfield in a good counter-attack. Much worse would be the situation if Koscielny, or any other player from the defense and midfield really, had been sent off, and Koscielny flirted with the red card constantly throughout the match. Anyway, Barcelona truly became rampant and fast, now creating great and clear chances after chances and Arsenal totally powerless. Barcelona's best football started to appear, as it had since the own goal, but their difficulties in the final third remained, this time with terrible shooting. Barcelona should have scored 7 or 8 goals at least. They shouldn't have been in the situation nearly at the end of the match in which Arsenal had a good chance with Bendtner after Mascherano's mistake. It's really weird and freakish that despite being so much superior, one of the most one-sided matches that you will ever see between top teams, and creating so many goal chances, poor finishing meant that Barcelona were so close to being knocked out with Arsenal's only chance in the entire game!
Well, these are my final thoughts: no matter how great of a team you are, you always need at least a little bit of luck or even bad refereeing decisions to win big titles. And, on the course of the tie as a whole, the bad decisions for both teams ultimately evened out in the end and Barcelona was far superior and totally deserving of going through.
Personally, my favorite case of luck deciding the fate of an all-time great side was Sacchi's Milan against Red Star in 1988. Milan drew 1-1 at home and were losing the second leg 1-0 at Belgrado with 10 men when a mist forced the match's interruption and another match was re-scheduled. If Milan had been eliminated, they two consecutive European Cup titles would not happen because only league winners and the champion participated from the European Cup. Sacchi would finish the season 1988-1989 without titles and probably fired.
First, we need the context of the first leg. It finished with Arsenal winning 2-1 in one of the most brilliant UCL games of the decade, the speed of play, intense pressing, high line from both teams and, above all, the pure spectacle of skills, technique and precise passing in tight spaces with short time had been a marvel to behold. Barcelona went ahead and were truly brilliant in the first half and seemingly in total control of the match during almost the entire second half. Their football was astonishing and they superior for most of the game, but Arsenal was still pure class playing very high technical level football in their own right and created a good amount of great chances in counter-attacks. Still, Villa scored the first goal and Messi was uncharacteristically wasteful in front of the goal. Messi also had a goal wrongly ruled out as offside. Complacency slowly took over Barcelona, satisfied with a 1-0 victory away, while Guardiola inexplicably took out Villa, who had been Barcelona's best attacking player on the night, to put Keita! It must be one of the worst substitutions that Guardiola has ever made and perfectly showcases how complacent Barcelona had become in the match, thinking that the 1-0 victory was sure. Wenger, though, was great in his substitutions. Arsenal never stopped having good counter-attacks, never stopped believing. They scored two goals very late in the match and very quickly, leaving Barcelona truly dizzed and surprised, shocked at what had just happened in a match seemingly decided and in total control. Barcelona went back to attacking Arsenal, but the calmness and assuredness that had defined Barcelona in the whole match was gone. As Michael Cox wrote: "Barcelona had gone into their shell and found impossible to re-emerge as an attacking threat again". Arsenal's best player in the match was Wilshere.
Piqué was suspended for the second leg while Puyol was injured, meaning that Busquets and Abidal had to play as centre-backs. Mascherano had to be Barcelona's DM. Fábregas and Van Persie for Arsenal were coming from injury, not 100%, but still played. While the first leg had been a cracking game, the second leg was really dull in comparison. Not only it was a terribly one-sided game, but Barcelona didn't even need to play at their best levels, not even close, to have this ridiculous dominance. Arsenal, meanwhile, could not string 4 passes together, always well closed down by Barcelona's great pressing, and could not shoot once. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start from the beginning of the match. Barcelona was expected to attack Arsenal with devastating speed and precision from the very first minute, to score an early goal. It was how Barcelona usually played. But maybe the makeshift defence combined with Mascherano and midfield were responsible for the team changing this for the match. Barcelona started slowly, playing keep-ball, looking laborious and maybe too patient in attack. Barcelona was overly conservative and often sterile in the first half, probably not wanting to risk an Arsenal counter-attack, since Barcelona's defense in this match was obviously so far from ideal. Arsenal weren't unhappy with this scenario and, far more than Barcelona, also played a more conservative game than usual. Arsenal didn't really park the bus though, but they were seriously lacking quality whenever they tried to counter-attack and get through Barcelona's first excellent line of pressing, the opposite of how well they had played in the first leg.
Barcelona passed the ball in midfield well as usual, but they clearly looked off-color, edgy and imprecise in the final third. Barcelona had already started to look fatigued, off-color and imprecise like this in their four La Liga games after the first leg against Arsenal and before the second leg. Barcelona had won all of them, but were far from great and very well below their best. They were in a relatively poor run of form when it comes to the level of their football (in comparison to their crazily high standards of course). When I talk about Barcelona's problems in the final third during the second half, I mean that their though balls, triangulations, dribbling and passing combinations close to Arsenal's box were being really laborious and lacked sharpness and precision, not giving Arsenal too much trouble in intercepting all these passes. Bad decision-making was also a big problem. For example, Messi was being uncharacteristically selfish, trying to dribble everyone all by himself and, at least twice in the second half, Messi had a perfectly free teammate in great and better position to pass the ball, but Messi preferred to keep dribbling and eventually losed possession. Villa also had started his period of crisis in the season, in which he would spend months without scoring, lacking sharpness and overall confidence in his shooting and his skills. Pedro also was going through a slump. In the end, despite being overly cautions, Barcelona scored in the end of the first half a great goal by Messi with a great assist by Iniesta after again great pressing by Barcelona and a ludicrous backheel by Fábregas created the goal chance.
The first half also potentially had a penalty not given, when Messi was took down on the box's edge. Have your own opinions if it was a penalty or not, you can easily find it in highlights of the game. Other two controversial moments in the first half were Van Persie slapping Alves and only getting a yellow. This, if I'm not mistaken, was responsible for making Abidal really angry at Van Persie to the point that Abidal grabbed Van Persie's neck! The referee ignored complaints from both sides and didn't send off neither Van Persie and neither Abidal.
The second half started similarly as the first. Arsenal needed a goal, but were unable to trouble Barcelona or make any remotely decent count-attack. Arsenal was toothless and Barcelona in seemingly total control. Arsenal then was able, with a player individual run in the wing, to get a corner. Then Busquets terribly scored an own goal! Arsenal had scored a goal out of nowhere and Barcelona had to score more goals! This own goal, though, could add some urgency and speed to Barcelona's play that had previously lacked in the match. Right after the own goal, Barcelona was electrified and created a great chance! Then, Van Persie was sent off! I agree that it is one of the most baffling and weirdest sending offs that I ever saw. But I still hold my opinion that, of all 11 players that Arsenal had on the pitch, Van Persie's sending off was the least worse that it could happen. Van Persie was totally isolated and had barely touched the ball in the whole match, totally null. He was 100% and Arsenal could never get past the midfield in a good counter-attack. Much worse would be the situation if Koscielny, or any other player from the defense and midfield really, had been sent off, and Koscielny flirted with the red card constantly throughout the match. Anyway, Barcelona truly became rampant and fast, now creating great and clear chances after chances and Arsenal totally powerless. Barcelona's best football started to appear, as it had since the own goal, but their difficulties in the final third remained, this time with terrible shooting. Barcelona should have scored 7 or 8 goals at least. They shouldn't have been in the situation nearly at the end of the match in which Arsenal had a good chance with Bendtner after Mascherano's mistake. It's really weird and freakish that despite being so much superior, one of the most one-sided matches that you will ever see between top teams, and creating so many goal chances, poor finishing meant that Barcelona were so close to being knocked out with Arsenal's only chance in the entire game!
Well, these are my final thoughts: no matter how great of a team you are, you always need at least a little bit of luck or even bad refereeing decisions to win big titles. And, on the course of the tie as a whole, the bad decisions for both teams ultimately evened out in the end and Barcelona was far superior and totally deserving of going through.
Personally, my favorite case of luck deciding the fate of an all-time great side was Sacchi's Milan against Red Star in 1988. Milan drew 1-1 at home and were losing the second leg 1-0 at Belgrado with 10 men when a mist forced the match's interruption and another match was re-scheduled. If Milan had been eliminated, they two consecutive European Cup titles would not happen because only league winners and the champion participated from the European Cup. Sacchi would finish the season 1988-1989 without titles and probably fired.
