March 8, 2011: If the disgrace in Newcastle 31 days earlier wasn’t bad enough, Arsenal are robbed by the officials again, this time at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, in a UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match. FC Barcelona were hosting North London team Arsenal, and Arsenal were leading from the 1st Leg, 2-1.
Arsenal, as is usually the case at this point in the season, were staggered with injuries: Centreback Thomas Vermaelen was replaced by Johan Djourou, midfielder Aaron Ramsey was replaced by the useless Abou Diaby, and, after only 19 minutes, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny got hurt, and had to be replaced by Manuel Almunia, by this point known to Arsenal fans as "The Clown."
Barca, meanwhile, were missing defenders Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué, but had the usual offensive suspects all available: Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, David Villa and Sergio Busquets.
In spite of this, the Gunners held Barça off until injury time of the first half, when Arsenal Captain Cesc Fàbregas sent a what-the-hell backheel pass toward Jack Wilshere, but it ended up at Iniesta, who passed to Messi, who put the ball in the net.
Fàbregas, a Barcelona native who'd been purchased by Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger from Barça's youth system, had been "tapped up" by various Barça players and officials, and it seemed only a matter of time before he "went home." Lots of Arsenal fans -- myself included -- considered The Backheel to be his "Manchurian Candidate" moment.
But that wasn't the biggest problem -- far from it. Not one, not two, but three times, a Barça player grabbed an Arsenal player by the throat: Eric Abidal on Robin van Persie, Dani Alves on Samir Nasri, and Victor Valdés on Nasri. And there is photographic evidence that referee Massimo Busacca saw at least two of these despicable Catalan actions.
Did he issue straight red cards to the offending players? Did he issue yellow cards as a caution? Did he so much as say, "You can't do that, do it again and you're out of here?" As they say in English soccer circles, Did he fuck!
There was a player sent off by Busacca. It was van Persie. Early in the game, the Dutch striker committed a stupid foul on Alves, and rightly got a yellow card. In the 56th minute, just after a messed-up attempt to clear a corner resulted in an own goal by Busquets, making the aggregate score 3-2 in Arsenal's favor, Busacca blew his whistle, because he judged the ball to be out of play.
RVP did not hear the whistle, and kicked the ball right afterward. Busacca gave him a second yellow card for this, and that's equal to a red card. Arsenal would have to play the last 34 minutes (plus stoppage time) of their biggest game of the season thus far not just as 10 vs. 11 (or 10 vs. 12, considering Busacca), but without their best offensive player.
Interviewed by Sky Sports after the match, van Persie said, "How can I hear a whistle with 90,000 people jumping up? How to God can I hear that? The referee has been a joke all evening, I don’t know why he is even here. These people are unbelievable."
In the 69th, Xavi scored to make it 3-3 overall, and in the 71st, Barça were (rightly, I'm afraid) awarded a penalty, and Messi hammered it past the hapless Almunia to make it 4-3. But in the 87th, Wilshere sent a pass to substitute forward Nicklas Bendtner that Bendtner could well have put in the net, tying the two-legged tie 4-4 and giving it to Arsenal, 2-1 on away goals. But he muffed his chance, and Barça went through -- and went on to win the tournament.
That bogus sendoff changed history, at least in the short term. Had Arsenal been allowed to keep 11 men on the pitch, even if Barça scored the 3rd and 4th goal, it might have been RVP who got the late chance, and buried it, and Arsenal would have gone through, and, with the Final in London at Wembley Stadium, might have won the whole damn thing -- even if it was Manchester United they would have had to face in the Final.
That bogus sendoff changed history, at least in the short term. Had Arsenal been allowed to keep 11 men on the pitch, even if Barça scored the 3rd and 4th goal, it might have been RVP who got the late chance, and buried it, and Arsenal would have gone through, and, with the Final in London at Wembley Stadium, might have won the whole damn thing -- even if it was Manchester United they would have had to face in the Final.
And then van Persie likely would have stayed more than just the one more season, and Nasri wouldn't have left, either. Granted, Fàbregas still would have gone, but at least he would have stayed long enough to lift the European Cup as Captain of Arsenal. And Arsenal, not Chelsea a year later, would have been the first London team to win the European Cup.
But UEFA wanted Barça -- known to its critics as "UEFAlona" -- to win, and so Arsenal got screwed.
But UEFA wanted Barça -- known to its critics as "UEFAlona" -- to win, and so Arsenal got screwed.
UPDATE: In 2024, Dani Alves, one of the Barcelona throat-grabbers from this game, was convicted of rape in Spain, and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.
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March 8, 2011 was a Tuesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. American-style football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Washington Wizards, 95-76 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 101-87 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Miami Heat, 105-96 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. Dwyane Wade led all scorers on the day with 38 points.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 95-85 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-100 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets, 113-110 at the US Airways Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
And there were 9 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum. Blake Comeau scored the winning goal with 58 seconds left in overtime.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Ottawa Senators, 2-1 at the Prudential Center.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the Bank Atlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at the Consol Energy Center (now the PPG Paints Arena) in Pittsburgh.
* And the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3 at the Jobing.com (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Dan Hamhuis scored the winning goal with 2:47 left in overtime.
* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Nashville Predators, 3-2 at the HP Pavilion at San Jose (now the SAP Center). Patrick Marleau scored the winning goal with 1:26 left in overtime.
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