Everybody, even most Arsenal fans, think that the Gunners have no chance at all of beating a star-studded Barcelona side next Tuesday, but then again everybody said exactly the same thing before Bayern Munich came to the Emirates earlier in the season.
I think that Arsene Wenger actually enjoys being the underdog, and is trying to make the Spanish giants overconfident before our big game, but, as he rightly points out, we have beaten them before.
It was five years ago, and after Barcelona dominated the game, Arsenal bounced back through Robin van Persie and the little Russian Andriy Arshavin. Wenger remembers the night well. “The memory [I have] is that the winning goal was scored by Arshavin after we suffered for a big part of the game – we should be encouraged by that,” Le Prof said. “We suffered in the first half and in the second half we slowly came back into the game and became very dangerous.
“That should help us in our [upcoming] game against Barcelona. If we have uncomfortable moments then we should have in our minds that we can still win even if it is difficult.
“It was really special [to win in 2011]. What I also remember as well is that it reminded me of how football is really as a team because you can deliver something exceptional.
“Three or four days later we went to Leyton Orient and drew in the FA Cup. In the same week that we were on a high, we were down again, but it will certainly be remembered as one of the exceptional nights at the Emirates.”
It was an amazing night, but no more amazing than the win against Bayern Munich, who were considered invincible up to that moment, having won every single game they had played in the months leading up to it.
Yes Barcelona are good, but they are certainly not unbeatable. Admittedly they haven’t lost in any competition for 30 games going back to October, but Bayern Munich beat them back in May in the Champions League, so why can’t we beat them next week?
COYG! Believe!