In the first half of this blockbuster of a Champions League tie at the Camp Nou, Barcelona put a cruel blow in against visitors Arsenal with a 47th minute Messi goal to level the teams seconds before the half time break.
Arsenal kept as close as they could to the globetrotters during the first 45 but it was reminiscent of the 1st leg where Wenger's top class midfield men were left chasing the ball as Barca stroked the ball about with consummate ease.
Robin Van Persie got booked minutes after showing his distaste at a bad tackle on team mate Jack Wilshire. This was a risky spell for the Dutch man as he visibly seemed to lose his composure that he normally doesn't struggle for.
The goal came when Barcelona born Fabregas got caught in possession trying to back heel the ball across the path of Iniesta. The ball was threaded through to the Argentinian wizard Messi who scooped the ball over Almunia and volleyed with finesse into the back of the Gunner's net.
Against the run of play Busquets scored an own goal to put Arsenal in the lead 2-3 on aggregate.
Hwoever, then the plot thickened. 2 minutes later (55 mins) Van Persie was annoyingly yellow carded and therefore sent off for hitting a shot after the whistle had blew for offside. This seemed remarkably harsh especially with the huge 99,000 capacity stadium where Van Persie claimed that he had not heard the whistle.
It really was one way traffic after this sending off. Xavi scored in the 69th minute as the home team carved through the heart of the Arsenal backbone leaving Almunia with no chance.
In the next minute, Arsenal conceded a penalty that even Arsene the philosopher would have to agree was a fair and correct decision. Messi stepped up and executed a perfectly placed penalty kick past Almunia to make it 4-3 on aggregate.
In 73rd minute Andrei Arshavin came on for Thomas Rosicky but playing against Barca is tricky enough, let alone against 10 men. The Gunners showed brave determination but couldn't penetrate the home team. Fabregas went off after a quiet game in the 77th minute for Nickolas Bendtner as Wenger desperately tried to create some pressure against the almighty Barcelona.
Barcelona started to play the possession game in the 80th minute, one touch or two touch - they managed to string the passes together that would be exhausting 10 men Arsenal.
In the 81st minute, David Villa came off as Afellay got a run out down the left wing. He instantly got a chance showing pace and strength but sliced his shot too much as it went past Almunia and past the left hand post.
If anything Arsenal did well to keep the damage to 4-3. Almunia made numerous good shot stops and the forwards chipped in with defence as the home team dominated every single blade of grass with a real lesson to the youngsters out there looking to progress their soccer skills.
In the 86th minute, England new boy Jack Wilshire set up a great chance for Bendtner whose first touch let him down massively and the chance was squandered.
In the 90th minute, Barca swapped Adriano for fellow Brazilian Maxell as the home team went into defensive mode as they counted down the seconds.
As the fourth official's sign went up with 4 mins of injury time and Arsenal were held deep in their own half Wenger went on the pitch showing his frustration.
Arsenal exited tonight against a well polished, classy team that many suggest is the best football team ever. To make Arsenal look as ordinary as they did over the two legs, I think this could well be the truth.
In a post match interview Van Persie labelled the referee's decision as a 'total joke' and Wenger had a bust up with the ref in the tunnel. Cruel that there was one second between the ref blowing for offside and Van Persie hitting his shot - really bad decision.
I would say that Arsenal were unlucky with the sending off but that Barcelona were way to strong and could have gone through without the visitors going down to 10 men.
