Champions League: Arsenal 2 - 2 Barcelona

Never will have an away draw in the Champions League tasted so bitter. The first half of this match was men against boys. Barcelona battered Arsenals goal, and only a mixture of Manuel Almunia, goal line clearances and poor finishing stopped Barca going in at the break 4 or 5 to the good. Xavi and Sergio Busquets were sublime in the centre, pulling Arsenal from side to side in search of the killer pass. And when they weren't in possesion, the intensity with which they harried Arsenals players off the ball was immense. It was a shame Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic weren't as astute infront of goal. At one point it was a seige as Barca had about four clear chances to open the scoring in 30 seconds, only to see every shot repelled by Almunia and his defence. Pep Guardiola said he's never seen his team play so well. They were simply irresistable.

Strangely, Barca lost a bit of their va va voom after the break, yet they found themselves two up after only 15 minutes. Two brilliantly taken goals from Ibrahimovic. His first was a sublime finish, although Almunias rush of blood to the head more than helped him out. The second was pure power after a Xavi pass had set him free. At this stage it looked like Barca were home and dry, but the introduction of Theo Walcott galvanised the gunners. The young winger collected Bendtners cute pass to fire past Valdes after 70 minutes. Then with only 5 minutes left, the tie was turned on its head by a Carlos Puyol challenge on Cesc Fabregas in the box. It appeared at first as a harmless tangling of legs but the ref gave the penalty and sent Puyol off. On closer inspection the ref was spot on. Cesc aggravated his old injury whilst slamming in the penalty, but misses the second leg regardless after earning a yellow card for a late challenge on Busquets. Gerard Pique and Puyol also miss out at the Camp Nou through suspension. The quarter final looked done and dusted for Barca, but they now have work to do next week. Still, they have to be overwhelming favourites to go through.