Bittersweet Barcelona refuse to let it slip against Arse - 阿森納兵工廠足球俱樂部 Arsenal Football Club

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/18/barcelona-arsenal

Bittersweet Barcelona refuse to let it slip against Arsenal by Sid Lowe

The crestfallen Catalan club's players are determined to rely on their
passing mastery to turn the tables

It was well into the small hours by the time Barcelona boarded their plane at
Luton airport but the feeling of frustration still had not passed. For Pep
Guardiola's side there was a sense of deja vu, and not just the weary
familiarity of another late flight home. For a second successive season
Barcelona departed London lamenting the ones that got away, having lost a
control that appeared unshakable.

"Just like last year," Dani Alves said, "we leave here with a bittersweet
taste in our mouths. We had chances and played well only for the match to
slip away from us. But it is not time to sound the alarms. We have to be
optimistic that we can go through with the second leg at home."

When David Villa opened the scoring in the first half, Barcelona appeared to
be in command. Even Leo Messi's extraordinary miss looked like it might not
matter. But Barcelona allowed the game to slip through their hands, with
Nicklas Bendtner noting from the sideline where he warmed up that Arsenal's
opponents appeared tired.

By contrast, Arsenal grew into the game, with Jack Wilshere in particular
increasingly influential. And when Robin van Persie struck a shot past Ví
ctor Valdés, squeezing the ball between the goalkeeper and the near post,
Barcelona's lead disappeared. Soon, they were trailing.

Last season Barcelona took a 2-0 lead only for goals in the 69th and 85th
minutes to give Arsenal an improbable draw. And although Arsenal's
performance on Wednesday was far more impressive than 12 months ago, there
was a certain similarity to events at the Emirates. Two goals in six minutes
turned the game. Andrey Arshavin made it 2-1 after Van Persie had equalised
in the 78th minute. "I didn't think he was going to shoot; he took me by
surprise," Valdés admitted. "What we have to do is control the final 15
minutes of the game because last year the same thing happened."

The striker Villa added: "We had the game under control both in terms of the
play and the shots, and we should have been more than 1-0 up. But we didn't
take our chances. Arsenal are a very good side and they caught us on two
counterattacks and did us a lot of damage. They were very intense, we
suffered on the break but we actually played very well."

That was a theme to which Villa's team-mates were keen to return. For much of
the game Barcelona were at their best and, despite the frustration, those
were the minutes to which the players clung. On their terms, at least, they
had a point. Whether their terms are flawed is another issue. According to
the Spanish newspaper El País, Barcelona completed 773 passes to Arsenal's
423. Xavi attempted 124 passes, completing 116. Seven Barcelona players
completed more passes than Arsenal's best passer, Cesc Fábregas.

Alves was refusing to sound the alarm; Xavi described the result as an
accident. All of those who left the stadium in bright yellow polo shirts
talked of optimism as they approach the second leg. The former Barcelona
youth Fábregas appeared to agree, too: he admitted that he was not even sure
he would call the 2-1 win a "favourable result", despite it being the "best
game I have experienced" and even though it came against what he described as
"the best team in history".

The Arsenal captain's midfield counterpart Xavi said: "There are still 90
minutes left. This is a sport and when you let a team off, when you waste
your chances, you end up paying for it, all the more so in Europe. But I
thought we had a fantastic attitude, we played very well and we were true to
our personality.It wasn't to be but there is time to turn it round. Because
of their goals, they will feel happier than us but I think we were much [the]
better [team]. It was very similar to last year but we leave here with an
even worse result. We had the chances to decide the tie.

"During almost the whole game we have played as we know we can but we didn't
get the result we wanted. This is the Champions League; we know what it is
like. We missed endless chances. It doesn't normally happen to us that we
fail to take advantage but this time it has. When you do that, you pay for
it."

Xavi dismissed suggestions that Barcelona had struggled physically, as
Bendtner claimed. He also insisted that the Catalans remain well placed to go
through. "There's no problem physically – I think we're in good shape," he
said. "I'd like to think that we are still favourites with the second leg to
come at home and in front of our fans.

"This isn't a major slip-up, it's a footballing accident, that's all. I'm
optimistic. If you're not optimistic, you might as well give up now."

大意是
Alves: 二比一的滋味又苦又甜（好像初戀），但我們沒聽到警報聲，還是很樂觀
Villa: 我們錯失太多機會，雖然掌握比賽卻無法多進球
VV: 我沒想到RVP會射門；和去年一樣，我們沒能把握最後15分鐘
Xavi: 沒有體力問題，而且我們仍然是佔優的一方


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