Arsenal gets a leg up in Champions League at Barça's expense

Soccer, much like the famous Disney song, is a small world. In contrast, sport does not always guarantee participants a fairytale ride. Neither Valencia nor Barcelona can be entirely satisfied with their respective Champions League results, both sides having led their opponents only to be shot down by familiar faces.

Raúl returned to Spain for the first time in a Schalke 04 shirt and leveled a match that Valencia dominated in large part. One away goal, one severe headache for Valencia's back four in Germany on March 9.

In London, Cesc Fàbregas was reunited with his La Masia peers and the Arsenal captain left the field at the Emirates Stadium on the winning side for the first time in four matches against his former teammates. In fact it was the first time Arsenal had ever beaten Barcelona.

The result could have been very different indeed had Barcelona capitalized on several goal-scoring chances in the first half. Leo Messi, who provided the perfect pass for former Valencia striker David Villa to latch on to for the opening goal, had not been as accurate when through on goal himself earlier in the half. Having feinted to shoot and with Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny committed to a preventive block, Messi lofted the ball wide of the Pole's far post.

The Argentinean would miss from a similar angle later in the game but perhaps his greatest error of the evening led to Arsenal's winning goal. Ceding possession in front of the Arsenal area, Messi simply stopped and watched as the defense worked the ball out of the danger zone. Several crisp passes and 80 yards later, Víctor Valdés was picking the ball out of his net for the second time in five minutes. Andrei Arshavin's clinical strike left the Barça stopper with little chance, but quite how Robin van Persie managed to squeeze a shot past Valdés at his near post beforehand is the question Barcelona will be asking ahead of the return leg. The amount of space afforded Van Persie to rifle his shot goalward is one answer.

"They were very effective in front of goal and we were not," Barcelona playmaker Xavi said after the game. "In European competition you end up paying the price for that."

Of greater concern to Barça coach Pep Guardiola than an evening of rare profligacy is who he will field in defense to stop Arsenal from scoring at Camp Nou. Carles Puyol is injured but may return in time; Gerard Piqué picked up a yellow card in London, meaning he will not be available for the second leg. A central defensive partnership of Éric Abidal and Gaby Milito is not nearly as fearsome as Spain's World Cup-winning pair.

"How to analyze that?" asked Guardiola after the match. "In the end that result isn't too bad but we dominated the game, really. It was like last year ? we started well, but in Europe you play good teams and Arsenal are playing well in Europe. But I'm confident about the return leg."

With Villa's precious away goal in credit, a 1-0 win would be sufficient to see Barcelona through. It is unlikely that Guardiola will alter his possession-based blueprint for the return leg, which will allow Arsenal to exploit its pace on the counterattack as it did in London.

But neither will Arsenal be over-confident after its famous first-leg victory. Last season the tie was all-square at 2-2 when the Gunners arrived in Catalonia. After 20 minutes of the match, Arsenal led overall 3-2. Then Messi scored four times as the visitor was torn to shreds. The Flea has never scored in England, but he does tend to scratch a few out in Catalonia when it counts.

"I still believe they are the best team in the world but we know we can beat them ? we didn't know that last year," said Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger. "We will take encouragement from tonight, be faithful to ourselves in Barcelona and try to score goals."

After Wednesday's scintillating encounter, expectations for the game of the year on March 8 at Camp Nou are not overstated.