2. Wizardly Wilshere
An excellent display tonight, in a role which was more befitting of his talent and experience than the one he was told to take up for England the other night against markedly inferior opponents than tonight. Alongside a more mobile defensive midfielder, Wilshere was given licence to break free when in possession instead of having to be careful, conservative and playing the easy pass backwards.
Tonight his excellent first touch, brilliant one touch passing, vision and ability to run with the ball all caught the eye, not to mention his quality turns in tight spaces under pressure, reminiscent of another Englishman Paul Scholes. To put in such a beguiling effortless display in such a heated atmosphere (by Emirates standards) and to even stick the foot in with precise tackling when required to, was simply put.. magical.
3. Colossus Koscielny
It is a rare sight to see Arsenal win a game of consequence, a rarer sight still to witness an Arsenal defender garner a great deal of plaudits for his tough no-nonsense defensive display. On a CL week of firsts, (Tottenham showing tactical astuteness and a great deal of grit & determination) Koscielny proved himself to be money well spent earlier in the summer and the wall which Barcelona struggled to climb over.
He possesses a fair bit of pace, a decent amount of strength and is very much Wenger’s version of Vidic-lite to Vermaleans ‘Rio’ impression. That said he has struggled over the course of the season which is fair enough considering its his début season, Gunners fans will hope this coming of age display will settle him down and make him feel like he’s an integral part of the first team for this season and beyond.
4. The Barcelona Triumvirate
We are constantly told by certain footballing aficionados that without Xavi/Iniesta.. Messi would be found wanting and that the recent World Cup was proof of that particular axiom, I on the other hand thought the Argentine was rather impressive despite not hitting the unrealistic heights expected of him by the majority of the footballing world.
Despite a 25 min spell in the first half where Xavi and Iniesta pulled the strings with consummate ease, the majority of the game was about Arsenal shackling the all-powerful Messi and creating their own havoc, having successfully subdued the illustrious midfield duo who are usually responsible for providing the foundations behind most of Barcelona’s victories.
It’s not hyperbole to claim that Fabregas and Wilshere outplayed their world-class counterparts last night, pressing them if not into mistakes, than more conservative passes than they would usually make and preventing them from recieving as much possession as they would usually be accustomed to. Messi on the other hand, remained Barcelona’s ‘Go To’ player, constantly on the ball, running in between defenders and if not racking up efforts on goal then he was at least slotting team mates in with numerous well-disguised through passes and was unfortunate to have bagged himself a brace.. a brace which would’ve ended that wretched run of having scored no goals in England. He’ll be back in the return leg though, don’t you worry about that.
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