Overall, I’d say that even though Arsenal lost the game, the manner in which we lost was something to be proud of…almost.

The game came down to two mistakes. First, the goal that came from Neymar and Messi on the fast break: This mistake is Nacho Monreal’s and Giroud’s.  Bellerin and Cech had Neymar in the top corner of the box. There’s no need for Monreal to run to the goal. He needed to eliminate Messi as a recipient for the pass which was Neymar’s only possible option, short of passing backwards or taking a shot.More Arsenal players were coming back to provide extra coverage, so the buying of precious time by eliminating Messi as a target is the only thing needed in that situation.

However, just moments before the ball ended up in Arsenal’s final third, a cross was fired into the Blaugrana’s final third and the intended recipient was Olivier Giroud. He was covered to his left, but only by one player. All he had to do was push in and fight for the ball in any way! What he did instead was his best imitation of Michaelangelo’s David – standing stock still, rooted in place like a statue. Due to his complete lack of movement or challenge, the ball was simply and easily cleared, landing at the feet of Barcelona’s midfield, which helped it along at great speed into the final third of Arsenal. That’s the first goal.

The cause for the second goal falls primarily on Mertesacker’s shoulders. Per Mertesacker opted to bring the ball down out of the thin air around his head to almost exactly behind the penalty spot and more shockingly, at the feet of Lionel Messi. Poor Mathieu Flamini, who had just come on the field reacted as quickly as possible, but Messi was faster. Flamini’s feet connected solidly with Messi’s shin and the referee was given no choice but to award a penalty to the Argentinian. He did not miss.

Arsenal played a magnificent defensive game except for those two moments, but a team like this Barcelona team – arguably the greatest team in the world and maybe of all time – will look for any opportunity like these two moments in time and they will not fail to capitalize on them. Other lesser teams would try to capitalize on them, but their lack of quality in comparison to this Barca would most likely result in a 0-0 result or a 1-0 result in Arsenal’s favor.

Arsenal also played a great offensive game, too. Except Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s lack of composure in front of the goal is disturbing.  Why, oh why did Santi Cazorla have to be injured????? The ball drops like a gift from Heaven right to the Ox’s feet. All he has to do is lightly chip it a few feet over the prone body of Ter Stegen but he decides to try and tunnel the ball through his body instead???? Seriously? Dude, Ox, what the fuck!?!?! Giroud, Ozil, Sanchez, Cazorla, Campbell, even freakin’ Flamini would have chipped the ball over. C’mon, son! That’s bush league. Bush!

And hence, the almost part. Other thoughts…I would have liked to have seen Elneny play in midfield for a decent amount of time. I would have like to have seen Gabriel instead of Mertesacker and maybe Calum Chambers instead of Koscielny. I don’t know. Probably nothing, in the end, was going to stop the freight train known as FC Barcelona, but we made them look a lot less threatening than they’ve been known to be and that is encouraging for us.

Now, it’s back to the league and to the FA Cup, both of which are squarely within our grasp. COYG!