Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said he was delighted with the way his team played from start to the finish of their Champions League victory over Arsenal on Tuesday (February 23) which extended their club record unbeaten run to 33 games.
The European champions won the Round of 16 first leg 2-0 with two second half goals from Lionel Messi, the second from the penalty spot as Barcelona advanced closer to becoming the first team to lift the European Cup in successive seasons since AC Milan in 1989 and 1990.
“I liked everything from the very beginning,” he told reporters afterwards.
“We had plenty of possession, we defended very well and we managed Arsenal’s transitions (counter-attacks) very well.
“They are one of the best teams in the world with their transitions, but we coped with them, kept the game level and then turned it in our favour.
“I liked everything that we did tonight and we were the deserved winners. We dealt with Arsenal’s pressure really well in the second half and my players coped perfectly the whole match.
“Of course nothing has been decided yet and we will have to play very well again to get into the next round of the competition in the second leg.”
The one unsavoury note of Barca’s performance was the suspicion that defender Gerard Pique, who was on a yellow card going into the match, earned himself a second and deliberate yellow card after 85 minutes.
That means he misses what should be the formality of the second leg at the Nou Camp on March 16, enabling him to have a clean slate for Barca’s probable quarter-final ties in April.
After Messi scored from the spot to put Barca 2-0 ahead, Pique went to the touchline and had a quick conversation with the coach with their hands over their mouths.
Soon after that Pique went rushing in with a late lunge on Arsenal substitute Danny Welbeck and was yellow carded by Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir.
However Luis Enrique denied any connivance.
“No, it was not a deliberate foul by Gerard Pique, he had to commit that foul,” he said, “there was nothing deliberate about it at all.”
With 20 minutes left and the score 0-0 against the world’s most lethal attack Arsenal appeared to have heeded the painful lessons that have blighted recent Champions League campaigns.
Then, the old frailties returned and Lionel Messi’s classy late double gave Barcelona a 2-0 win that should make the second leg of this last 16 tie in the Nou Camp a formality.
For the past three seasons Arsene Wenger’s side have exited in the round of 16, having imploded in the opening home leg.
“I felt there was room to beat them tonight, that is the biggest regret I have,” Wenger told reporters.
“We felt we could win it and lost our cautiousness to defend. Especially as we knew it was vital not to give them a counter-attack which is when they are most dangerous.”
Wenger added: “Barcelona is through it 95 percent certainly but we want to go there and play. We are Arsenal and we will not go there and just have absolutely no chance but what we want is to focus now on our next game. It’s a shame that the players have not got any satisfaction tonight because they have been, energy-wise I think, we have put absolutely everything into it.”
