To the attacker, the spoils

It's hard not to smile. The referee gave the game to Barcelona (again) and UEFA gets the team it wanted into the next round. If it weren't for Massimo Busacca, Arsenal would have gone through in a blaze of glory. Or a withering inferno of not attacking and committing penalties against Messi that weren't called.

So let's get this out of the way: Busacca had a bad night and got a lot quite wrong. If you're going to send van Persie off for being a second late, then you've got to send Abidal off for putting his hand on RvP's throat. But then you've also got to send off Koscielny for his miserable tackling, including the penalty on Pedro that was a clear second bookable offense. So, in the end, the refereeing was bad in both directions and the cookie crumbled in the direction of the team that actually tried to win. I can't really see much wrong with that final outcome, though I doubt it assuages Arsenal fans.

What a joy to watch, though. I didn't get to see it live with a crowd, but a friend and I avoided the score at work all day and watched when we got home, some 2 hours after the real final whistle. It meant that we couldn't talk about it to anyone or check stats or anything, so we just focused on the mesmerizing display of midfield passing. Messi's first goal was spectacular, amazing, and just plain goodness in a jar. To be able to do that is unfathomable to me, with my limit skills (all-time leading goal scorer in college--err, well, at least in the intramural league, err, well, at least on my team in the intramural league, err, well at least for that one year when the other striker couldn't play because of thesis obligations) and so I've watched and re-watched that goal enough to make mi mujer unplug the DVR.

It's the crowd exploding too, that makes me smile. And that brings up an interesting part of RvP's sending off (which was harsh, in case I hadn't explicitly mentioned that). In Barney Ronay's minute-by-minute report of the game on The Guardian, there are repeated emails and references to the point that the Camp Nou has a docile and quiet crowd, where you can hear a pin drop, where you can chew louder than the cheering. And then the inevitable "you can't hear the whistle above the din of 98,000 screaming fans" sounds like quite the excuse. You can have it either way you'd like, but you can't have it both ways.

And anyway, the match could have easily turned the other way, gone over to the Gunners had Mascherano not stolen in at the last second and thieved Bendtner of his scoring opportunity. Without that intervention, Arsenal, who had laid in wait all game, could have finally sprung their trap and made off with the goods, but it wasn't to be and 0 shots on goal gets recorded as the final tally.

We're on to the next round, though, and I'm going to enjoy the victory. It's too bad Arsenal is out because they're generally a fun team to watch and now the screams for trophies and against Wenger's model and tactics are going to get ever louder. That's a shame and I hope that they can win the Premier League.

Source: Isaiah Cambron, ESPN Soccernet on 10 Mar 11