Clinical finishing was the difference in this sparkling match, one in which the Gunners dominated for much of the time.
Arsenal created a close to a dozen good chances in the match, but could only convert once. Barcelona created about 8 good chances and converted three times.
The Gunners got off to a fine start, created early chances, only to gift the opening goal to Barcelona.
Laurent Koscielny made the foolish choice to hang onto the ball too long, was dispossessed and in an instant they found Neymar who converted past Ospina. Minutes before Ospina had made a wonder save to deny Messi, now he was left exposed.
Arsenal had numerous chances in the first half, most of which missed the goal. Ozil smacked one wide of the post, Elneny missed, Iwobi hit wide, Sanchez headed wide, and Elneny failed to hit the best chance first time and it was blocked.
The Gunners continued to press in the second half and were handed a lifeline by Elneny, who hit a spectacular shot into the top corner. Suddenly it was a game.
Chances would come at both ends, but Arsenal would come closest when Welbeck’s shot was deflected at the last moment.
Barcelona would then score the goal that ended the Gunner’s chances. Dani Alves was allowed too much room on the right and he crossed to Suarez, whose volley was perfectly placed into the top corner. Bellerin stumbled as he tried to intervene.
Welbeck then had a shot deflect off the crossbar and Alexis’s free-kick produced a wonder save from ter Stegen, who scrambled up in time to parry Giroud’s follow up shot.
Lionel Messi would put the final touch of brilliance on the game, with a delicate chipped shot over Ospina for Barcelona’s third.
Now Arsenal have only the Premier League to concentrate on, a final nine games to save Arsene Wenger’s season.
Player Ratings:
Ospina 8: Ospina’s opening save against Messi was spectacular and necessary. He would go on to make other saves, particularly from Neymar. He never really had a chance on the goals.
Bellerin 6: He showed some nice touches going forward and had a couple of runs up the field that set up chances. Defensively, he had his hands full dealing with Neymar. He was two steps behind him on the opening goal and he stumbled as he chased Suarez on the second.
Gabriel 6: Got an unnecessary yellow card for an aggressive shove on someone. He made some key interventions at times, but he also got lucky. On the third goal his inability to control the ball was punished by Messi.
Koscielny 5: Why oh why did he try to dribble upfield with Barca players lying in wait? The moment it happened I yelled “No!!!” That got us in the hole and we never crawled out.
Monreal 7: He played well defensively, but gave Alves too much space on the second goal. He was effective coming forward, particularly in the second half.
Flamini 5: Played just the first half and may have a muscle injury. Typically picked up a yellow card making a wild lunge. He had a good chance to score, but shot over the bar. He also made a couple of poor passes.
Elneny 7: Scored his first goal as a Gunner with a nice shot into the top corner. He had two good chances to score in the first half, but squandered those. He played very well at times, especially in the first half.
Ozil 6: Drifted in and out of the game and he had some good moments, but others you felt he could’ve done better. He had an early shot that he hit wide.
Iwobi 8: A surprise starter, but he was probably the best player out there tonight, even though he made some mistakes. Was he tripped or did he stumble in the area? Not sure, but it was unfortunate. He combined well with other players, particularly Welbeck.
Welbeck 7: He had a couple of chances, but he couldn’t take them. His movement caused the Barcelona defence problems.
Sanchez 8: He had a couple of good chances to score. His header wide was one he should’ve buried. His free-kick was very good. At times he was dynamic, but there were times he made mistakes. Walcott fed him a cross late and he just completely missed a good opportunity when he couldn’t control the ball.
Substitutes:
Coquelin 6: He was reasonably solid the entire second half.
Giroud 5: He had one good chance off the ter Stegen rebound/save off Sanchez’s free-kick, but the angle was tight.
Walcott 6: He had one decent chance but was too close to the keeper. He actually had a few good moments in this game, but couldn’t alter the outcome.