Very few teams go to the Nou Camp and come away with a win... I can proudly say that we are one of them

Bale should be playing not sure about VDV,  We need him for the his European experience, and his goals, Although he can be a bit of a hot head.

Looking at results for Barcelona against english teams in recent years, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea have got past them over 2 matches, so your 'the result is already decided' theory is rubbish.

Of course it did. Barca were at home, Arsenal were up against it but defending well. It's very hard to defend against such an attacking team with 11 players but with 10? It doesn't matter if Arsenal had 0 shots on goal or 100 the OG put them back in the game, the sending off changed the game.

Maybe Barca should have had a pen but they also should have had two players sent off for shoving RVP in the face when the ref was perfectly positioned to see it. They're a great team with great players but no UEFA ref will allow any English team to beat them it's against the law.

Watch this space: if Barca are in trouble against the next English team they play don't watch the players watch the ref he'll be the one making the headlines.

*Is loving Prom and shoving Dave back in his cave*

Er, recent years: Chelsea...biggest ref scandal in CL history. Chelsea go out. Arsenal... Barca going out if score stays at 1-1. Ref makes one of the most ridiculous decisions in CL history to give Barca a one man advantage. Arsenal go out.

On the positives for Arsenal I thought Wilshire was brilliant and Nasri in the first half as well, Almunia had a good few saves when he came on (bar the pen, wtf was that about). I think Arsenal should sell Fabregas for as much as they can get for him, he reminds me of Torres he looks like he doesn't want to be there but as hard as it would to let him go it might be better for the team. Wenger should move to pastures new as well, Arsenal need a shake up with a new manager with new ideas, the same manager for so long can get stale (unless they are winning a lá fergie).

Wenger came across really well on Sky Veggie. He gave it to the ref after the game. Stark contrast to our board  forcing Drogba to apologise for calling the ref a disgrace after our game v Barca that as a fan was just humiliating 

I'm not convinced about this one at all. Spurs have looked inept defensively of late and are capable of losing the tie through their own errors rather than through good play from Milan.

but you conveniently miss out the ones I just mentioned. So the result isn't ALREADY decided, is it? If it was, then Barcelona would have won the Champions League every single year for the past 5 or 6 years, right? If results are always pre-decided for Barcelona wins, how did Mourinho manage to beat Barcelona over 2 legs when he was at Chelsea? How did Liverpool manage it and how did Man United manage it in the semi finals in 08? I suppose the ref for the Liverpool was it or wasnt it over the line goal had already decided that Chelsea weren't going through right?

Whatever you think Prom, of course the number of shots on target matters. Also, RVP's second yellow was his own stupidity as kicking the ball away has always been a bookable offence. I don't think common sense was being used when issuing it knowing it was a second yellow but by the letter of the law it was just. Anyway, I'm leaving it there with you on the matter as you object to everything I say no matter what the scenario.

id like to add that i have not seen the Barcelona game tonight as I was out, but will watch it later... but I've heard all about the VanPersie sending off on the radio on my way home and it sounds like it was a shocking decision. However  I did see the first leg.... so what about the shocking decisions that went against Barcelona in that match? i.e Song staying off the pitch after about 6 yellow cards worth of fouls, a legitimate Messi goal ruled out.
I'd say it's evened its self out.

i Know what your saying CS, I pinning my hopes on like the previous rounds, our C/L performance is way above the league performaces, We are at a stage in the competition where sloopy defending will result in going out . We just need to keep up the attacking policy, if we sit back , we are toast. In saying that, If Milan play like they did in the first leg, I can't see why we couldn't go through,

Come on mate, how blatant do you think they can be? The ref isn't always enough to hand them the game. They can't just be 100 per cent blatant all of the time. The Ovrebo game was an exception no way in hell were Chelsea winning that game he turned down four nailed on penalties.

The ref tonight was just desperate he had no clear opportunity to hand Barca an advantage so he just sent someone off for absolutely nothing. The odds are stacked in their favour, look at Platini and Blatter's comments on English teams in recent years and you can see the corruption starts at the top and sends a clear message to all below them.

I'm not usually paranoid about such things but it is what it f*cking is.

It won't be easy for Arsenal to replace Wenger when/if the time comes - the entire footballing side of the club is surely his design - and unique to the way he works.

Club football at the top level has such a fine dividing line between success and failure; Bendtner buries that ball - Arsenal reach the CL quarter-finals - and the discussion takes on an altogether different tone.

I don't object to everything you say, really I don't. The number of shots on target does not matter. If they score an OG and the score stays at 1-1 Barca are out. They needed a helping hand and they got it. I'm not arguing with you for the sake of it, apologies if you think I am.

But Barcelona were far and away the better team and could have easily have won 8-1, they were denied a legit penalty as well.  We will just have to agree to disagree but I honestly don't think Arsenal would have won even with RVP on the pitch.

But you choose to ignore what happened in the first leg prom. I actually don't think it was deliberate to help Arsenal win that game 2-1, I just think the officials made bad decisions like not sending Song off when he clearly should have been and wrongly disallowing Messi's goal - no hidden agendas behind it. But obviously there was tonight because the decisions went against an english side rather than for.

cesc4official Cesc Fàbregas Soler 
Great support from the arsenal fans. I take full blame for the result tonight. One of the worst moments of my life. I apologise.

Poor Cesc

Don't think Wilshere is doing himself any favours on twitter... took abit of a shot at the ref. Don't know why clubs allow footballers on twitter at all.

Why is a Chelsea fan fighting Arsenal's corner here? 

RR Barca were definitely the better team in some ways Arsenal didn't show up at all but Barca couldn't break Arsenal down till they were handed an advantage which gave them a lot of space in the middle of the pitch. Yes we will agree to disagree I am glad you don't see this conversation as anything personal.

Dave, the first game had a neutral ref. Barca at home and trailing by a goal you're never going to get a neutral ref. You can call it the luck of the draw that the ref made an absolutely bizarre decision to put Arsenal down to 10 men but that's not 'bad' refereeing that's atrocious refereeing and recently it only seems to happen when Barca are playing a team who could put them out so I guess I will have to agree to disagree with you also.

Tweets from Robin and Jack too apologising. But it wasn't their fault.
We did what we could, we were holding on (just) until the ref sent off Robin and gave them a penalty. I'm with Prom on this, English clubs and the national team and the fans are hated - yes HATED- by Blatter and Platini. Time and time again we see decisions against English teams and the national team and most English fans know that if the incident happened the other way round then the decision would be different.
Did I expect to win? No. Do I blame us losing on the ref? No of course not. But the sending off had a big influence and River rock you are wrong to say Van Persie kicked the ball away. He went for goal and didn't hear the whistle. Did you hear the noise at the Nou Camp tonight? He couldn' hear - End of

Oh so when all the decisions are for Arsenal and against Barcelona (as in the first leg) the ref is neutral, but when decisions go for Barcelona and against Arsenal the referee is corrupt?
Your argument just seems a little unbalanced to me. But yeah we'll agree to disagree.

I didn't say that, thats what the ref booked him for. No one will know if he heard the whistle or not but the chasing defenders seemed to stop running. It was bad refereeing as all refs should use common sense.

I just hope you can invest all your frustration into the PL now as you deserve to win it over the Mancs.

I would gladly accept your point if the sending off hadn't been so outrageous. It changed everything and there is nobody in the world of football who can justify that decision.

I have a feeling this is a conversation to be continued because Barca will come up against English opposition before they're handed the trophy.

Couldn't they? There were many occasions when Barcelona got through one on one with the keeper... Messi had plenty of chances but instead he tried walking it into the net and Villa got through one on one with Almunia but he managed to keep it out. Alves also had a fair few, one occasion when he was either trying to slide it across the centre for Messi to get on the end of it or slot it into the bottom corner.

Even with RVP on the pitch it wouldn't of made any difference... Arsenal were struggling to get out their own half. You could see him getting more and more frustrated aswell, it was only a matter of time before he would of done something stupid. Barcelona had decisions go their way and some not their way.

A few points.

1) RVP should not of been sent off
2) Abidal should possibly of gone... since when are players allowed to raise their hands to players? He grabbed Van Persie by the neck.
3) They were denied a clear penalty
4) When they did finally get a penalty... Koscielny was already on a yellow, surely he should of gone?

Its every game in the premier league we see refs make errors... its the same in this case.  I don't see any sign of refs trying to ensure Barcelona don't lose. Had that been the case, then why not send off Koscielny?

I don't think Dawson has found his top form since returning from injury - disappointing imo - given where he was prior to the injury!

The attacking policy needs to be balanced with discipline further back - and for that i would pencil in Palacios to start.

And that's how the game had been going up to that point. All Barca, with Arsenal keeping them out. Not so easy with one player less. Your lot have the money to get into the CL you might even do it this year. You'll be even more hated than we were having 'bought' your way into the CL more recently than us. Good luck with those refs mate 

Obviously I didn't see the game because I was elsewhere watching my team. I can only rely on the bits I saw on sky late on. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Arsenal play great football but they are too soft. It's ironic that Souness was giving opinions because he represented the type of player Arsenal need. If it had been the Liverpool of old then he would have been given the job of taking out or at least severely injuring Messi early on. The only way to beat that lot is to intimidate them.

Good post Joe. Arsenal showed Barca way too much respect and were second to every ball. I don't think they are that far behind Barca in skill but they played as though they were.  I still don't think they deserved to go out the way they did. Rules are rules and should be adhered to particularly by the ref.

Congrats on your win tonight  

Ta! It was an exciting second half.

Exciting or nail-biting 'are we going to make it to the final whistle?'

We were 0-1 to about half way through the second half but we improved and yes! It's never over, till it's over at the riverside!

Excellent I'm chuffed for you. And happy for Milwall. QPR fans (bitter beyond belief about Chelsea) will be crying into their pints so not a bad night for me really.

If we did get into the CL, would love to come up against the big guns of europe... mind you, I think we can guess what sort of football we would play. Every man behind the ball for full 90

Tevez and Ballotelli... two fantastic strikers you just need to get the ball to them. I can't believe how scared Mancini is when you have such amazing attacking options. We have different problems with Torres, players seemingly refusing to pass to him which really really upsets me 

Can't see Tevez being here next year... Mancini has done alot of rotation recently. Sometimes its Tevez/Balotelli, Tevez/Dzeko or Dzeko/Balotelli. He once even started all three with Silva playing behind, didnt work out well though. Will wait and see what happens, I think we will see a few players coming in and some leaving in the summer... which is never good. Last thing we need is a whole new team wanting 4 months to gel together.

Welcome to my world . I don't rate Dzeko I think Tevez and Balotelli are world class. I'm amazed though that you've spent so much and your board is so patient with Mancini. He's really not a very good manager to get so little out of so much talent just imo obviously.

Morning folks *waves*







The secret of their success!!

waves back.....hiya Veggie.