Didier Drogba - The 'marmite' of football

Didier Drogba is now into his eighth season at Chelsea, and has become the ‘marmite’ of the footballing world.

You can love him, or hate him, but when the striker is on top form, you can’t stop him.

Last night Chelsea triumphed over European Champions, FC Barcelona, in a tactically astute performance. The London club had to be patient when defending, thanks to the passing game of the Catalans, and then be clinical when going forward.

And that indeed they were, with Roberto Di Matteo’s side winning 1-0 thanks to Drogba’s goal just before half-time.

The striker’s all-round game was perfect, with the Ivorian helping to bring in his midfield with his hold-up play, whilst earning free-kicks to advance his team forward when they were under enormous amounts of pressure.

His goal capped off his performance, and he thoroughly deserved that, and the plaudits the media were giving him post-match, despite several occasions when he threw himself to the ground in previous Didier Drogba style.

The striker has matured and come a long way since theatrics were a big part of his game, and has now lived up to the expectations of being one of the world’s best ‘powerful’ strikers.

Perhaps his latest argument for a title such as that started at the beginning of the week when he netted a superb goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur.

His technique of controlling the ball, shrugging off the challenge from William Gallas, and firing a rocket with his ‘weaker’ left-foot into Carlo Cudicini’s near post was admirable, and really set the platform for Chelsea to win convincingly.

And just three days later, the striker caps off the impressive week for his club by upstaging Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Cesc Fabregas.

There are few strikers in the world who can match a fully-fit Drogba, as the likes of David Villa, Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie play the position so differently.

As aforementioned, Drogba’s game is all about power. And his strength, aerial ability and direct manner has given him an impressive record of 154 goals in 270 appearances in Chelsea blue.

His accolades too are notable, winning three Premier League titles, three FA Cups, has won the League Cup and Community Shield twice too.

And with this season reaching it’s climax, and Chelsea hitting form at just the right time, could those honours be added to with another FA Cup winner’s medal, as well as, the Champions League medal a career like his should deserve.

Kauto the Star Performer at Kempton

Kauto Star, winner of the King George VI Chase four times previous, created history on Boxing Day to record a fifth victory in the infamous race at Kempton.

The 11-year-old, ridden by Ruby Walsh, overturned last year’s defeat to young rival, Long Run, to triumph in the race for the fifth time in six years, winning by just over a length.

Kauto Star becomes now the only horse in history to win the King George VI Chase five times, moving ahead of Desert Orchid’s tally of four successes.

Kauto Star had starting odds of 3/1 and was amongst the front runners throughout the race, with Long Run, starting as the favourite at even money, consistently behind the veteran horse.

The Paul Nicholls trained horse has silenced many critics with this success, after the two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup champion had tasted defeat twice to the Nicky Henderson trained Long Run, at the start of the season.

Nicholls stated post-race, "He's just awesome and I knew we had him in serious order. I don't know why he wasn't quite right last year.

"If he gets to Cheltenham in that form he'll be the one to beat [in the Gold Cup]."

Jockey, Walsh, had ridden a near perfect race on Kauto Star, with fences and ditches providing no trouble for the experienced duo of man and horse.

And with Kauto Star leading, and quickening, the pace coming into the final straight, the fate of the race were in their shoes, as, despite Long Run finishing the stronger, the ever popular Kauto Star held his place at the front of the pack.

Walsh stated of Kauto Star after the race: "He's an amazing horse. He looked a million dollars and he felt great. He jumped super and travelled great. This is a fairytale. He's a wonderful horse and it's a credit to the people who work with him every day.

"He's beaten a six-year-old [Long Run] and he's 12 next week. To keep a horse going as long as that is amazing.

"You can say what you want about the best steeplechasers of all time, but he's outlasted them all. He's lasted longer than any other horse and that's what makes him so brilliant.

"This horse is as tough as nails and he's exceptional."

Kauto Star now possesses a record of having raced 40 times in his career, winning 23 times, and has only been unplaced in just six outings.

Football Unites A Nation

Libya, a country surrounded by hostility and violence, overcame the struggles of national conflict on the football pitch to defy the odds and qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations.

The side, represented under a new flag, a new national anthem, and a new strip had a squad unity, despite the country’s fighting ripping the motherland in two.

However much like the nation awaiting the crucial result back home, the qualification process became a turbulent ride for the footballers too. Their own suffering included the side overcoming the effects of Ramadan during their first match, whilst their second game was overshadowed by the passing of their team doctor.

However all was forgotten after a heroic defensive display in Zambia, reflective of those caught up in the terror back home, meant the North Africans forced a 0-0 draw to ensure qualification.

The game typified the attitude of the nation’s people. In a never say die manner, the Libyan side, despite being on the back foot for so long stood firm, making sure the Zambian onslaught would result in nothing but frustration.

Within the Libyan ranks was veteran goalkeeper Samir Aboud, who produced two crucial saves to keep his nation’s hopes alive.

And despite the constant bombardment of Zambia’s attacks, when Aboud was twice beaten, the ball cannoned off the woodwork to rescue the nation.

With the score line still goalless, the final whistle in Chingola left Libyan’s with tears in their eyes, almost halting a whole nation’s fighting with celebration, and swapping the weapons in people’s hands with flags and banners.

For a country that had only seen their player’s line-up in Libya just once during their qualification process due to the ongoing situation surrounding Colonel Muammer Gaddafi, the result sparked an African carnival worthy of being seen again at the Equatorial Guinea and Gabon tournament next year.

In the squad, the nation now had something to be proud of, and a leader they praised. If only Colonel Gaddafi had the heart of national coach Marcos Paqueta. The Brazilian hadn’t been paid in six months, and yet stuck to the task in hand to ensure a country, not even his own, got through to appear in only their third African Nations.

Libya qualify as one of the best-placed runners up after Zambia qualified top of Group C, and the Libyan’s will now be looking to do better than their Round One exit stage at their 2006 outing.

They go into next January’s event with an unbeaten record, so many are hopeful the team have a chance of performing well, and emulating the 1982 squad that came second in the tournament.

Though that can wait, as the nation can celebrate what an achievement the national side have produced in just reaching the finals.

However, Libya may have qualified as one of the best-placed runners up, but runners up that night in Zambia they were not, as a whole nation can embrace them now as winners.

My 2011/2012 Predictions

This week is the date in every football fan's diaries where they are allowed to put £10 aside out of their hard-working cash to put on what they will think will happen over the course of the next 10 months.

Football being football means that 9/10 of the aforementioned will no doubt lose their money, however we do it because we love a prediction, a statement and a reason why we want to waste our money away.

Yesterday I threw down my cash in Coral, in the shape of a Lucky 15 across the top four divisions in England. Here's my picks, and why:-

Premier League - Manchester United - 6/4 fav

For me, Man Utd won the league by default last year. Their squad on paper wasn't amazing, and if you drew comparisons with that side to the side 5-10 years previous, it had nothing on it. For example the centre midfield partnership of Carrick and Fletcher is nowhere near as good as the duo of Scholes and Keane. To put it bluntly, they were the best of a bad bunch. And yet, with the signings they have made this year, more than just the Premier League could arrive at Old Trafford. They have bought quality. Ashley Young is arguably one of the best English wingers, and the purchase of Phil Jones is brilliant in the fact he already holds top class quality and yet he's two years younger than me! Hernandez had an amazing 1st season, and he will no doubt continue that kind of form, and if Rooney hits the ground running from the off this year, I think it will be hard to catch the Red Devils this season.

Championship - Leicester City - 4/1 joint fav

Leicester hold all the credentials to be worthy winners in England's second tier this year. In Sven-Goran Eriksson, they hold a manager who knows a lot about club football, and what it takes to win trophies. He's had his introductory season, and now is the season where he can push for silverwear. Admittedly, they relied heavily on loans last year, however, now they have injected the cash into permanant transfers, and the quality they have bought is incredible. Nugent will add so much firepower, whereas the likes of Neil Danns will help improve an already lethal midfield. But it's their defence they have sured up the most. They have bought a goalkeeper who's dad was part of a 1999 Treble winning side, and six top class defenders, most notably Paul Konchesky and John Pantsil who holds plenty of top flight experience, and Matt Mills, who was one of the best defenders in the division last year, and also scored in Reading's play-off final defeat to Swansea. All the elements are there, and I back them to all come together for the Foxes.

League 1 - Sheffield Wednesday - 6/1

I picked out Sheffield Wednesday mainly down to the form they showed at the back end of last season. Boss Gary Megson looks like he now has a grip of his squad and is a manager who I think can lead this team to success, sorry Blades fans. Their activity in the transfer market has been sensible. The experienced Jose Semedo will plug any holes in midfield, whilst Julian Bennett is a great acquisition for this level. Going forward they might need a striker, but they do hold quality in attackers Clinton Morrison and Gary Madine, with support coming from midfielders Chris Sedgwick and Giles Coke. Other people may fancy the likes of Huddersfield or Preston, but for me, Wednesday will be the ones top of the pile at the end of the year.

League 2 - Rotherham United - 16/1

Didn't quite go for an obvious choice in League 2, however I feel this division will be wide open. A lot of people have backed Crawley, and with the finances they hold why not? (not to mention the prolific Matt Tubbs) However I've picked the Millers on the basis of a few key factors. The first being they STILL hold a striker who WILL score for fun at this level and until he snapped up, will continue to push Rotherham up that league. Le Fondre has been linked with moves away this term but it's a reflection of what happened last summer, he didn't go anywhere. The second is the manager. Andy Scott proved punters wrong in 2008/2009 when he won the league with Brentford, from there he then established the London side in League One before being dismissed unfairly in my opinion. But the gaffer knows what it takes, and having been there and done it before, he will feel hungry to repeat the success. After finding some gems in the transfer market, Conrad Logan on load will help the goalkeeping problem, this team, who were unlucky to miss out on the play-offs last year, I feel will be up there yet again.

So there's my picks, and if all four come in, just over £600 comes my way, though i don't expect that to be the case. Because as I said, 9/10 will probably lose money gambling on title winners during pre-season, and I bet I'm not that 10% that wins something...

The Open wide open!

With the exclusion of Tiger Woods, the shake-up of the World Rankings in recent weeks and the demise of American Golf, that British Open played at Royal St George's this week looks to be a chance for a number of outsiders to stake a claim amongst the world elite.

The course itself is much different to any other that has been played recently in the major tournaments. The idea of Links Golf brings into play the conditions surrounding the 18 holes much more than the usually untroubled courses, and just as Scotland showed last weekend, the sea breezes and torrential rain can play a major role on someone's round.

On that occasion, Englishman and World Number One, Luke Donald, won the competition, which has only strengthened his preparations for The Open with a hope of bettering his 5th place he managed in 2009.

His short game may be ideal for this kind of golf course. Hitting under par is a feat in itself, so the fact Donald holds arguably the best short game may be a big factor.

A lot of people from the UK could only admire the way young Northern Irishman, Rory McIlroy, held his nerve on the last day to bring home the US Open a month ago, banishing the memories of a torrid final round at the US Masters having led for the first three days.

So he becomes the bookmakers favourite, with most bookmakers pricing him between 7's or 8/1. He hasn't lost any kind of magical touch and the recently announced World Number Four has the backing of most of the British Isles to triumph again.

Another man who is bound to do well is Lee Westwood. The World Number Two still looks for his maiden Open title, however his placings in the The Open in the past two years (2nd in 2010 & 3rd 2009), and his impressive recovery in the US Open to tie 3rd there can only lead to another solid tournament here.

A Major is bound to come his way soon, and doing it this weekend on home soil will not only delite himself, but the massive following he'll get at Sandwich too.

Graeme McDowell is another player that has been backed heavily. McDowell holds a very good Links golf game, which he proved at Pebble Beach last year winning the US Open. He's looked in good nick in the build up to the competition, but the odd slip-up was visable in his game whilst competing in Scotland last week.

The Northern Irishman has the ability to triumph again, and winning that first major last year will only settle him for the big occasion again. But can he hold his nerve, we'll see...

From the rest of Europe, there a few challengers that stand out.

Martin Kaymer has to be mentioned. He stands at World Number Three currently, and possesses a game that may suit the Links style. However he hasn't performed in the Majors this year, but maybe that is about to change.

The Spaniard, Sergio Garcia, is another one to look out for. This time last year Garcia was still in dreadful form, however a respectable 14th showed he was still capable. Now he returns with some form, after a creditable US Open and narrowly missing out on the BMW International Open title.

I think the strongest challenge from America will come in the shape of Steve Stricker. His year has been pretty impressive, not missing the cut once in the tournaments he has played in, and most recently winning the John Deere Classic within the past seven days.

He has a tremedous putting stroke, which is going to be key in the blustery conditions, as holding difficult par putts may be the difference in first and second!

From everywhere else in the world people may fancy Louis Oosthuizen again. The reigning champion has now completed his first year as an Open Champion, and has shown glimpses of the ability that can prove he can do it again.

Jason Day may have another say. The young Aussie has surprised many with his performances this year, but his two 2nd places at The Masters and the US Open, proves he may be a decent shout.

Others may fancy The Masters champion. Charl Schwartzel may be an attractive each way price at 40/1 and holds a good enough short game to trouble the leader boards again.

So there we are, just a flavour of what to expect, and who may be creeping up towards the top of the leader board come Sunday afternoon. As I say, this year, the championship is so open, as many golfers hold the ability to win, but who can avoid trouble, have the right attitude and have lady luck on their side to hold aloft The Claret Jug in five days time?

For me, I have gone with Stricker, Garcia and Day, but who knows what may happen during the course of the competition. I think whoever holds the best short game will have the greatest chance, as well as those who put well in what will be very tricky conditions.

Let's just say I'm happy enough to watch the action, and leave the playing to the professionals!

The Questions of England's Youth...

After the England U21's 0-0 draw with Ukraine, a few followers of the national side, as well as the media, may begin to ask several questions about what we call the next generation of England footballers. Here's my insight to what the answers to these may be...

Isn't it a bit like South Africa?

At times the performances of this U21 championship have been a little flat, lacked a bit of ambition and could easily be compared to the performances the full national team put out a year ago. Again, just like the full national team 12 months ago, we have had some backing from the fans and media that we may do ok in this competition. And after a great fightback in the first game to draw with an impressive Spanish side, things looked promising, especially because it seemed we didn't even hit top gear. But after the 0-0 with Ukraine, who now sit bottom of the group, only glimpses within the second half of the match did we look capable of scoring.

Are we good enough to progress in the competition?

Don't get me wrong, we are still probably one of the best sides in the tournament, but our team has to change. In terms of attitude, personel, and maybe even shape. Our back four has looked very strong so far, and new United recruit, Phil Jones has forged a great partnership Chris Smalling. It's a shame we didn't see Kyle Walker on the ball a lot during the second game, but defensively we haven't been troubled too much. However in midfield is where I think the majority of the changes need to occur in order for us to progress. Danny Rose for me isn't offering that much, and I think Scott Sinclair or Marc Albrighton would perform a lot better out on that wing. Jordan Henderson is a great prospect, however he's slowing the pace of the game down far too much. Against Ukraine we looked best going forward when we had tempo to our play and he was the one slowing it all down. Henri Lansbury has been rather promising both times he has come on and I think he needs to be given a chance, whether that be in midfield or off the striker, and I think Welbeck is overrated. He had a great chance when put through by Danny Sturridge, which he shinned wide, you need Sturridge in that striking role if we want to score. Change the system, and yes we'll progress.

So will these players be good enough for the national team in five or so years?

Hard to predict. A lot are very talented for their age and if they continue to get better then there is no reason why not. Whether they will reach the same kind of ability as the current crop is open to debate, however I'm not sure if anyone has the potential to be as good as Wayne Rooney in the current crop (though he's only 25!). We also need to remember that this side are missing Jack Wilshere, who already is a full England international at 19, as well as £35 million striker Andy Carroll, so there is talent already in place, so if the rest of them can get better the future may be safe!

One final point

I think it's wrong of me if I were to compare it to other national teams, but I'm impressed at how many of this U21 squad come from such illustrious clubs. All the starting line-up tonight were in the Premier League last season, with captain Michael Mancienne securing a move abroad this summer to German club Hamburg! I mean some of them, yes haven't played an awful lot of top flight football, the likes of Ryan Bertrand and Danny Rose spring to mind, but then you look at Chris Smalling who played a key role in filling the defensive void at Man Utd last year, and Daniel Sturridge who became Chelsea's best striker whilst on loan at Bolton at the back of the season. These players have what it takes to be top flight players for a lot of their careers, so as I have said previous, if they keep on improving (and moves to bigger clubs for the likes of Jordan Henderson and Phil Jones can only enhance improvement even more!) then we might see these players in England shirts for quite some time!

End Of Season, Start of Transfers...

So with now no club football on our television screens for the next two and a half months, why does it seem that this is one of the busiest times in football?

Amid the corruption claims that surround FIFA at the moment, and International football still ongoing, clubs across the continent are as busy as ever already building what might be a Championship winning side next season.

Stories such as the future of Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas almost bore sports readers now, because what people want is new material, and whether he stays or goes, the formalities are all the same. The same could be said about Karim Benzema's future, who in the past seasons has been linked with moves to England, as well as Kaka, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Dani Alves.

However the saga behind Dimitar Berbatov is pretty fresh, and rather intriguing. Who would have thought the joint top scorer of the Premier League would be on his way a month ago? However the exclusion of the striker within the Champions League final squad has seen him linked with Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and even Newcastle United.

The future's of West Ham players may be a big talking point, with Scott Parker and Demba Ba the most sought after players following their relegation to the Championship. However with Sam Allardyce now installed at the helm, maybe his wise words can persuade them to stay and win promotion. Parker's been heavily linked with North London clubs, Arsenal and Tottenham, and Ba seems to be the striker everyone wants with rumours linking him with Newcastle, Sunderland and Everton being talked about.

In terms of players being brought in from around the continent, Tottenham seem to be the club heavily linked with foreign players. After finishing outside the Champions League places, Harry Redknapp will need to strengthen. A lot of his squad have been linked with moves away, however, Spurs continue to be linked with centre midfielder Lassana Diarra, Espanyol's Pablo Osvaldo and recently, Gonzalo Higuain, though the legitimacy of these stories and debateable.

However what it does look like, is that the top flight again may be hard to predict. Manchester United will strengthen, despite winning another title. They have recently lost Paul Scholes to retirement so finding a suitable replacement will be a priority, as well as replacing the outgoing Berbatov. Chelsea will want to find a goalscorer, and it looks likely one of their current crop will have to be sacrificed. However their main issue at the moment is securing Guus Hiddink as full time gaffer. Manchester City will want to build on their FA Cup success with even more additions. With the almost infinite money they possess, they have been linked with almost everyone, from Wesley Sneijder to Gary Cahill. Arsene Wenger has be urged to change his transfer policy and so links to Benzema and Alex Oxlaide- Chamberlain keep appearing in gossip columns, and Liverpool's constant link with Aston Villa's Ashley Young keeps everyone guessing as we might be able to see a potent from line from The Reds next season.

Early betting prices are already predictable, but come a month or so, when signings have been made, it might be worth putting a cheeker £10 on someone who isn't the favourite because you never know with the Premier League, or at least go each way with an outsider because some of the prices you could get are pretty good.

Early Prices - Premier League winner 2011/2012 (02/06/2011)

Man Utd - 19/10 (Betfair)
Chelsea - 147/50 (Betfair)
Man City - 4/1 (Boylesports)
Arsenal - 15/2 (Victor Chandler)
Liverpool - 12/1 (Betfred)
Tottenham - 50/1 (Skybet)

Gunners Shot Down

Last night, in the forever ongoing episode that is Manchester United vs Arsenal, the Red Devil's triumphed 1-0 victors over their London counterparts.

Park Ji-Sung, who scored his fourth career goal against Wenger's men, arched his back and found the net with a superb looping header.

But a game built up to be a classic encounter failed to lighten up those who watched it, and plenty of play was broken down with fouls and bookings.

Arsenal amassed four yellow cards during the game, showing the intent of stopping United hitting them on the break, but that's about all you saw of the visting side.

The opening moments weren't of the highest quality, and loose passes and poor clearances by the Gunners' back line led to United having a lot of the ball in the attacking third.

And just as it looked as if Arsenal were going to hold on in a half dominated by the Red Devils, Nani cut in from the right hand side, where he was given far too much space by a dissapointing Gael Clichy. The Portuguese's deflected cross sat up awkwardly just in front of Park, who improvised and headed superbly over Szczesny.

Referee Howard Webb, with help from his assistant, awarded a penalty to United too, after Arsenal's left back, Gael Clichy, was adjugded to have handled the ball, but Rooney, who had only scored twice this season, blazed his spot-kick over the bar.

But with this result, Manchester United now sit at the top of the Premier League with 34 points, two clear of the chasing pack, with their re-arranged match against Blackpool still to play.

They have hardly been at their best, with the likes of Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, and Rio Ferdinand not completely on fire this season, yet the red side of Mnachester couldn't be happier.

They are also the only side in the 92 league sides, that remain unbeaten, having said that they face a stern test against a Chelsea side who looked back to their best in their game against Tottenham at the weekend.

Arsenal's defeat at Old Trafford means their record against Chelsea and United is now no wins in their last 11 games - hardly results you would expect from title challengers this year.

It may be time to re-assess things down at North London. Make sure they win the Carling Cup, so no one, not fans, media or rivals get on their back and ridicule them for the lack of a trophy, and then go from there.

With Chelsea to play in two weeks, it may time to play a different way against them. That record I mentioned is poor, so maybe it's time to counteract what system they play, rather than usuing our own methods and try and pass it round them.

This December, has to be one of the most crucial months in Premier League history. Christmas has always been a period where teams lose and gain dramatic points in a busy festive period, but this year the fixture computer pitched the big sides against each other during this time.

With United beating Arsenal last night, we still have plenty of more action and drama to unfold.

Either way, if Chelsea beat United next week, this title race can still be exciting for everyone, if United win, then they certainly have taken a big step towards their favoured destiny.

South Coast Fortunes

The two super powers of football in Hampshire have certainly had different fortunes this season.

Whilst one consistently climbed the table from being docked 10 points at the start of the season, the other ended up being demoted from the top division and were found out to be in the region of £130 million in debt.

Portsmouth's crippling debts starts with owing several clubs money from the transfers of players such as Jamie O'Hara and Kevin-Prince Boateng.

In the mean time, whilst Pompey struggle to bring any new players in with no money, Southampton have been splashing he cash in order to put a serious title challenge in next year's fight for the League One top spot.

Saints announced Rickie Lambert as their player of the year, and he has been the key to the clubs progress, and will no doubt prove to be the main man to propel Southampton to the title next year.

Lambert is the top goal-scorer this year with only this weekends fixtures to play, and has almost lived up to the £1 million that was paid for his acquisition from Bristol Rovers back in August.

The team in red and white also splashed the cash in the January with the addition of Jose Fonte from established Championship side Crystal Palace, as well as the purchase of Danny Seaborne and Lee Barnard from Exeter City and Southend United respectively.

Portsmouth on the other hand have had to bend the rules and look to sell their own players to raise the cash outside of the transfer window.

However, the only silver lining of a horrendous season for the blues was the 4-1 victory in the F.A Cup against their rivals in their ‘own backyard'.

Which proves, for now at least, that Portsmouth are still the top club in Hampshire.

England's Number One, Captain Fantastic, Insert Any Fitting Headline Here...

Arsenal came back from the dead to survive what was almost torture from Barcelona last night.

The Emirates crowd were treated to another footballing showcase, though this time it was their team on the receiveing end.

I don't know about anyone else, but i gave up hope. 2-0 down at home to the European champions who were playing out of their skin, any kind of hope was far beyond the horizon.

Manuel Almunia proved to be the hero in the first half. He produced a string of great saves to keep the scores level at zero. A strong right hand from the majestic Sergio Busquets started the proceedings, and his saves seemed to get better as the half went on.

Xavi was allowed too much, Ibrahimovic was allowed to turn too often and Messi was given the freedom of the pitch.

Alex Song seemed clueless. The Cameroon international, arguably one of Arsenal's best players this season, was nowhere near his midfield opponents, and possibly produced the worse game of his season. He got rightfully booked, which seemed an inevitability, but his switch to centre half later in the game still didn't help preceedings.

Abou Diaby, another Arsenal midfielder who has had a brilliant season, again didn't seem to be in the game. He was slow in distributing the ball, hardly the Arsenal way eh?, and was sluggish in his movement. Again, maybe another player who had his worse performance of the season last night.

But while Almunia was stealing the show up one end, there were glimpses of what Arsenal could do. Samir Nasri, superb throughout, bent a shot just wide, whilst Bendtner should have scored in double opportunity albeit for an offside flag.

But with the possession stats at 70/30 in Barca's favour, we should have been two, three, maybe even four behind.

Half time was the break we needed, and obviousely 23 seconds into the second half, players were still on that break.

Ibrahimovic, who had never scored against English opposition before the game, was bought by Barca to introduce a 'Plan B' to Barcelona despite how good their Plan A - Their perfect passing game - is.

And their first goal was more Bolton than Barcelona. One long ball from centre half Gerard Pique put the Swede behind the Rsenal defence. And to be fair, he finished it well. Alex Song at fault, it what was becoming alomst a game to forget.

Ibrahimovic surely silenced all doubters with his seond of the game. In a build up not to dissimilar to the first, the striker gambled on the ball reaching him behind the Gunners defence, Thomas Vermaelen this time caught out of position, and the Barcelona player smashed it high into the net.

It was almost time to throw the gloves down, upto that point there was no real evidence that Arsenal were even capable of getting near the Barca goal, let alone scoring two.

But it was the genious of Wenger that changed the switch the play.

With Capello watching in the stands, Theo Walcott definetly chose the right time to perform.

Wenger changed his mind in substituting Samir Nasri, and opted to bring Bacary Sagna off.

And with Emmanuel Eboue reverting to right back, Walcott was given the license to attack the Barca left.

It gave Arsenal an outlet and he swallowed up any through ball put behind left back Maxwell.

A taste of what was to come was when the England international was played out wide behind Maxwell, only to see his cross come to nothing.

But with 21 minutes remaining. Nicklas Bendtner, who beforehand missed a sitter heading straight at Victor Valdes, played in Walcott, who cooly slotted the ball under Valdes to offer Arsenal hope. The Bacelona keeper will be dissapointed he didn't save it, but Arsenal fans started to believe.

Fabregas had a good chance with a free kick, whilst Barcelona were offering nothing in the latter stages of the game.

Then came the moment Arsenal fans couldn't quite believe was possible. Bendtner cushioned the ball for Fabregas, who would have no doubt smashed the ball home from only a couple of yards, yet it was Barcelona captain, Carles Puyol who caught Fabregas in the process of shooting which denied the certain goal.

The referee pointed to the spot, sent Puyol on his way, and Catalonian Cesc Fabregas despatched the penalty.

Subing the likes of Messi off and bringing on defender Gabriel Milito obviously signalled that even the Barca bench thought the tide turned.

Yet both teams almost wanted that winner in the last five or so minutes, but a draw just leaves this tie in the right way for us to tune in next Tuesday with much interest.

Arsenal are without tgheir influential captain. Fabregas picked up a very unfortunate booking in the game when it seemed he took the ball, but today's news reports feel that his season might be over anyways with a suspected broken leg picked up in the build up to Arsenal's second goal.

Barca will be missing their captain after his sending off, as well as Gerard Pique who picked up his 3rd booking of the competition.

But despite both sides skippers absent, as well as Barcelona also missing their other first choice centre half, this game could well be as close as the first game.

2-2 in theory is not a great result for Arsenal, but from the position they were in, I think they will be happy with that and will be looking to snatch it at the Nou Camp.