Arsène Wenger blames ‘naive’ moment for Arsenal’s defeat by Barcelona

The hosts were resolute and organised in defence and it showed as the Catalans failed to muster an effort on target in the first half of a Champions League match for the first time since November 2013.

Nacho Monreal of Arsenal sails above Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona, Champions League 2016. He also lamented their naivety in allowing the otherwise under-par La Liga leaders, who are now unbeaten in 33 matches across all competitions, to exploit them on the counter-attack in scenes that bore a resemblance to Monaco’s victory in north London last season.

After being dazzled by Messi’s magic wand, it will take an act of astonishing escapology for Arsenal to go through in the return leg at the Camp Nou on March 16.

Visiting goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was mainly a spectator in the first period, when he was often the only player in his half, cutting a lonely figure as far up the pitch as around the centre circle.

Barca coach Luis Enrique joked this week that all he needed to do was shout “Abracadabra” for Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez to deliver the kind of magic display that would bewilder the Gunners. “I am very happy for how we did our work in each moment”.

Neymar forced another save from Cech before the end but the game petered out to a close and as expected it was Barcelona who came out victorious.

Then the unbalanced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain squandered the best opportunity of all, scuffing tamely at Marc-André ter Stegen with the goal at his mercy. Arsenal is very good at helping each other collectively and we needed a lot of possession of the ball. Neymar and Lionel Messi have carried on from how they performed last season but perhaps the biggest revelation (which shouldn’t come as a surprise) is Luis Suarez who already has 41 goals under his belt this season, 14 more than his Argentine teammate and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Very hard. But we have to try to give our best knowing that it’s 95 for them and five for us”, he added.

The tie began to open up as Messi found a rare pocket of space in the Arsenal box but saw his shot blocked by Mertesacker before Suarez drilled across Cech’s goal and behind, with Neymar inches away from tapping in at the back post.

With eight minutes left on the clock, Wenger introduced Mathieu Flamini and the French midfielder gave away a penalty just one minute later.

Luis Enrique appeared set to lose one of his key players during the match, as Sergio Busquets became troubled by a sore knee.

“Fortunately I scored the penalty”, he said.