Arsenal will face holders Barcelona in the first knockout round of the Champions League.
The Gunners have played the Nou Camp outfit seven times in the competition winning once, drawing twice and losing on four occasions, including the 2006 final in Paris.
Of the teams we could have drawn we’ve definitely been paired with the toughest, however, after our last-gasp escape from the group stages beggars can hardly be choosers at this stage. Let’s just enjoy the ride.
Arsenal will host Luis Enrique’s side at the Emirates in the first-leg on 23 February before travelling to Barcelona on 16 March to make Messi, Neymar and bitey-McRacism cry. It’ll also be a reunion with former captain Thomas Vermaelen.
Full Draw
Fuck it, just another famous fucking victory coming. Bring on the cannibal.
This reminds me of this one time, when I was on the Pelennor Fields, right after we’d broken the ranks of Mordor, which to be honest was a bit like the game vs Olympiakos in that nobody gave us a prayer beforehand. Anyway there we were driving the enemy before us, when we heard a tremor shake the very ground, and looking up in growing dread I spied the Mûmakil advancing towards us in the distance. Drawing Barcelona is exactly the same thing. Like my friend Gamling said we cannot defeat the armies of Mordor in battle. No. We cannot.… Read more »
Send these foul beast into the abyss!
Already know how this tie is going to go down. The first leg at home: We will play well and get at least a draw (maybe even bag a win) – but Barca will score at least a goal. The second leg: We will be winning the tie at some point on the night and we are heading through. Then the referee will make a ludicrous decision that hands the match to Barcelona, something like.. sending off one of our players for no reason, or disallowing us a key goal.. just something controversial that’s a total BS call .. Then… Read more »
Could be worse–we could have drawn FC Midtjylland.
fuck
Saw it coming a mile off.
Predicted last week that we’d get Barca and Shitty would get Kiev.
I’m just surprised that Chelshit didn’t get Gent. Maybe Abramovich didn’t pay them enough
Surely this is ‘punishment’ for Wenger’s comments on the way UEFA condones doping.
Hopefully this time the ref won’t send our striker off for looking like he might score
Hopefully Bellerin won’t backheel on the edge of our box, then spend months talking about his DNA.
Good lord I’ve almost forgotten that incident. Cesc you fucking cunt, wasting away at Chelsea.
Wish I could up vote some of these comments more than once! On a roll today lads!
are you talking about when Van Persie kicked the ball away 0.3 seconds after the whistle for his yellow card?
I guess you have to beat the best to be the best. But bloody hell, Barca again!!!
By that logic wouldn’t we have got the Ukrainians [after Shevchenko et al.]
So city ‘boo’ UEFA and get Dynamo Kyiv? Slightly flawed logic fella.
Logic?! Where we’re going Marty, we don’t NEED logic…
On come on!
Chelski had to get PSG. It was so bloody funny last time.
May PSG hand their cheating arses to them again!
FIXED UP, STITCH UP
You mean… Fuck yeah! Barça have been struggling a bit in form.
COYG!!!
Fuck!!!!!
At least Chelsea got the worst possible draw. And at least our game will be entertaining viewing.
7-3 aggregate score to Barca, with us winning our home leg. Nou Camp capitulation awaits
no way, we’ll keep it tight at the camp
Debuchey, Mert, Gabriel, Monreal
Bellerin, Kos, Flamini, Gibbs
Giroud, Alexis
Giroud to score from the one free kick we get when Alexis is fouled outside the Barca box
by the way, I am joking around here…
Wtf? No Ozil? He’s been our best player this season. Also, no goalkeeper? You can’t risk not playing a goalkeeper against a side like Barcelona.
btw, you don’t need to type you’re joking, it’s obvious to most (myself not included, as featured above).
He’s joking mate….
@donni
He’s joking mate
Well, I didn’t see that one coming……
LOL ! I was convinced it would be Real ! Ah well – either a famous victory or we go out in a high.
Thank God we avoided the Europa League. That would have suppered us all ends up.
Atleast now can we say someone in UEFA have something for us/Wenger?
It’s not the first time that the draw has been ‘unkind’ to us (or to Barca facing us for that matter).
With all the things going on in the FIFA is it beyond possibility that the draw can be ‘influenced’?
There was a 40 percent chance we would get Real or Barca, it’s not like this was some tiny, remote possibility.
Looking back – how many times have we faced Barca and how many times have we faced Real in the last decade, in the Round of 16?
I was just raising the Q about ‘influence’ – if someone one knows that everything is black and white, then clearly I was wrong. Otherwise I guess the possibility remains!
I would rather be a bit suspicious than naive!
It would make no difference to me in looking forward to the tie – ofcourse a bit nervously because it’s Barca but with plenty of hope because it’s us!
I am usually predisposed to pour scorn on conspiracy theories. However, where the vile kleptocracies of FIFA and UEFA are involved, no amount of sleaze or scandal could possibly surprise me. Least of all the fixing of a draw – if we know much more nefarious activities have been confirmed, why would we rule it out?
I’m not saying it IS the case, but I’m saying there is no reason whatsoever to believe that it COULDN’T be fixed.
You can easily fix these draws by placing the balls in either the microwave to warm them up or the freezer to cool them down, and it’s definitely happened in the past.
FYI i don’t think it happened today but thats how they do it when it do
does not do*
@John C
Ramsey was great yesterday wasnt he ?
@ Smart-Arse
Nope, he played generally poor. If he played great we would have won by a bigger margin than 2-0 against a team bottom of the league who’ve collected only 6 points and 1 win in 16 matches.
If he’d played great we wouldn’t have had half the season average of shot on goal, half the number of key passes, half the interceptions and half the number of dribbles.
*whoosh*
We also got by far and away the easiest draw possible last year and mucked it up, while City had Barcelona. Of course it isn’t impossible it’s fixed but I think it’s unlikely – it was a 1 in 5 chance, after all. If you want to be the best you have to beat the best. We aren’t going to win the CL unless we’re capable of beating the likes of Barca, and if we aren’t capable of winning we may as well not be in it. Here’s to another fantastic game at the emirates like the last time they… Read more »
Plus, this was probably the hardest possible draw from Barcelona’s perspective too.
Everyone says it was a 1 in 5 chance, but I doubt anyone has done the proper math to show that. After all, from Barcelona’s perspective it was a 1 in 7 chance. Obviously, one thing cannot have two different chances attributed to it. So which is it? To be honest, I’m not even sure how to do the proper math myself, except for drawing out a full possibility tree for all possible options. If anyone knows this, I’d be interested. It may be that for us it was really 1/5, because all our possible opponents had the same number… Read more »
All five of the teams Arsenal could have been drawn against had seven other possible opponents, so it being one-in-seven for Barcelona doesn’t change anything. In fact, because England was the only nation with teams in both the group winners and runners up pots, the only other teams besides us that couldn’t draw seven other potential opponents were Kyiv, who couldn’t be drawn against Zenit because of the hostilities between Ukraine and Russia, and the other two English clubs, all of them at six apiece. If what you’re describing does impact the probabilities, it’s in such a tiny way that… Read more »
It seems someone has done the math, although they haven’t included the Russia-Ukraine taboo (which I didn’t know about either). See here: https://twitter.com/MisterChiping/status/674706692932812803. If they’d included that taboo, our chances would have been slightly above 20% for Zenit and slightly below for all others. They haven’t explained how they did it, but I’d guess it’s probably by writing some code to simulate all possible draws (that’s the only way I’d know how to do it). Note that for City and Chelsea not all probabilities are the same, despite the fact that all their possible opponents had the same number of… Read more »
Odds of drawing Zenit over any other team were indeed marginal:
https://i.imgur.com/k6G45ah.jpg
Bring it on. I remember doing the mighty Madrid when no one gave us a chance. We can do it.
Bring it on! Lets beat the best to get to the top!
Well, if we do end up beating the best we go through to the QFs
I believe this song sums up my feelings towards this draw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4
Well i feared that.. but its alright I hope we will be ready this time round.
fuck the champions league, let’s focus on the premier league.
Fuck that attitude, let’s win everything this year.
Better to get out in the 2nd round and focus on winning the league!
Haha . . . said that for the group stage, yet here we are. Let’s just get some good gap above the rest of the league in England by February and enjoy whatever happens against Barca. Plus retain our Emirates FA Cup of course 😉
Atleast we won’t take it for granted (like Monaco last year)!
Are you really, really sure about that?
Barcelona to take us for granted this year?
Taking a team for granted that has Ozil, Sanchez, Koscielny & Cech in it would be pretty arrogant, even by their standards.
Don’t forget Giroud and Theo. Also a certain Mr. Welbeck could be back by then.
I don’t want to read about players talking about lessons after either of these games. Instead, let’s teach Barca a lesson! They are not as invincible this season and we should have some injured players back to add some depth by the time these matches roll around.
life.
…oh life, oh life, oh life
I don’t want to see a ghost
Its the sight that I fear most
Rather have a piece of toast
And watch the evening news
Life, oh life, oh life, oh life…
Typical. But on the bright side, City will be expected to get through versus Dynamo Kiev..which should help our title chances nicely
Hardly a surprise.
I like the BFG, but Neymar, Suarez and Messi running at him is just not fair. Hopefully Coquelin will be fit till then and Alexis shows Barca what he can do at a club he actually fits in.
We can outscore them. Their defense has a propensity for shambles and they aren’t used to playing at a tempo we enjoy.
Hit them on the break.
HAHA pray Wenger is reading this
I hope we give Gabriel some games and make sure he shakes match rust off and is ready to go. BFG versus MSN will be a disaster.
Neymar and Messi will be injured by then anyway and we have everyone back, hopefully…
or maybe in jail for tax evasion, haha
It will be difficult, but this is football; never say never.
Besides, its BPL all the way for me this year. We must do all we can to be champions of England then we can face the UCL next season after more signings.
Need all our squad fit for this one. They are not the best defensive side around so we can be slightly optimistic.
Fuck. But good. Go big or go home. Prefer to meet them now than later.
Suits us perfectly either we beat Barca and go on to win the Champions league or go on the win the Premiership, win win!
I see this as a Win/Win situation. We beat Barca and it does our confidence no end of good. If we go out which as the underdogs is the more likely option, we get to focus on the league whilst Man City have the distraction of the CL as they should get through. Utd, Sp*rs and Liverpool can bugger about in the Europa league whilst we romp home to a famous PL title win.
Shit!! Fuck!! Why?!
Fate, no?
Oh what a surprise!
Quarter finals here we come. Results at round of 16…
Home: Arsenal 3-1 Barcelona
Away: Barcelona 1-1 Arsenal
You heard it here first.
read here first
Ignore my down vote, pressed wrong button
Cancels out mine then. Was going to click the up vote and I mistakenly pressed the up vote 🙂
Cancels out mine then. Was going to click the down vote and I mistakenly pressed the up vote 🙂
I wanted a reunion with TGSTEL 🙁
Oh well…. I expect a 7-3 aggregate scoreline to Barca, with us winning the home leg
Of course… Let’s do this shit!
Fuck luck
That’s that then… So, now the boys can concentrate on PL! In my opinion, we are already out of CL, so no need to be stressed about it. It actually can be a big plus for our side. It may help us with Barca not to get completely demolished. It’s a damn shame we are not playing them right now, they are in piss form at the moment!
We need to come up with a strategy to bypass the mighty defensive unit of Thomas Vermaelen
2-0 at home, 1-1 away.
Then lose to Kiev in the next round.
That’s what I call typical Arsenal! ;]
Bring it on !!!!!!!!
I certainly saw this coming, what with our luck and all…
Crap! What sort of wichcraft do the practice at UEFA HQ?
Well. This big package arrives from FIFA. They open it to find it’s full of $100 bills.
They spend the loot on hallucinogenic drugs and another CL draw is born from their fevered imaginations.
Saw them at the weekend against deportivo and they lack squad depth and switch off defensively. Living in Barcelona currently singing and dancing around my flat!
There must be a software they use to draw either Barcelona or Bayern every year. Monaco was the minor bug they fixed.
That bug really bugged us.
I think the Bayern games are a good indicator of what should be possible against Barcelona. The home game shows what can happen when we’re perfectly prepared and committed, while the away game shows what happens if we just turn up for the ride.
We lost Ramsey and Theo in that game don’t forget that. And it was before Joel started finding his footing. Granted, we conceded the 1st before the injuries, but I imagine things wouldn’t have ended so badly if we didn’t lose them. Also, Laurent was out for that game with a back problem or something.
Arsenal have improved since the last time we faced Uefalona. Remember silvestre’s assist to messi? It’s doable with a full squad.
Ozil to assist Alexis on the counter, Alexis beats dani alves on pace, to score at nou camp to send The Gunners through to the quarter finals. *Wakes up* to reality, where it was actually Alexis assisting Bellerin who zooms past alba, to kill barca and the dna horse shit.
Bite me Deja Vu
Bite me
YES YES YES YES!!!
Bring it on! I’m excited! I’m pumped!
This gonna be good. (:
Atleast messi won’t be scoring..all hail Cech…mertesacker would be having a boner I guess…..coyg
Before you laugh at children who believe in Father Christmas just know that there are adults who believe in Louis Van Gaal
Hang on. If he’s not real, who’s fucking up the red scum then?
Don’t think we’ve ever faced these tw@ts with a full strength team – may be wrong. I’ve always felt our full strength teams could give them a run. And we’ll certainly will need a strong ref for this… none of this Victor Crosseyed nonsense.
Mike Dean it is then
Let’s hope we’re up for it from the 1st minute of the first leg and not leave ourselves too much to do in the 2nd leg again.
Actually, the last two times we played Barcelona at home, we won 2-1 and drew 2-2
Win win situation for us. Going in as underdogs lifts the pressure from the team and anything out of the two games will be a bonus. If we knock them out we will have another historic win in the Champions League to remember. If we don’t, then we can focus on the league.
Okay everyone.. Don’t panic!! We just have to get Arshavin back on loan..
Wooooooow, that went well
Better bring Källström back swiftly now!
Hahahahahahahahaha aaah hahahaha… of course, Barca and Bayern are two Euro derbies. Well, WHEN we win the Champs they can’t say we took the easy route!
If Barcelona are on their game we’ll get murdered, can’t say i’m particularly confident but Barcelona have been beaten
There we go again…praying Sanchez, Coquelin and Santi are fit by then.
Sanchez will be certainly. Whereas, the others two hv no chance as they’ll be out for atleast 3 and 4 months seperately. Which is no chance they’ll b match fit by then