Champions League: The hard road

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
31 Mar	7:45 PM	CL	Barcelona (H)	2	2	Draw

When we got to the Champions League final in 2006, it was tough. Real Madrid in the last 16; Juventus in the quarters; Villareal in the Semi, then Barca in the final.

But if we're going to do it this year, it's Mike Tyson tough. It's Stone Cold Steve Austin tough. It's a James Ellroy novel for a journey to hell and back.

So let's get on it!

Barcelona in the quarter-finals is as exciting a trial by fire as our young team could dream of – and sets up a genuinely mouth-watering opportunity not just for Cesc but also for Andrei Arshavin to prove themselves in the arena of the Nou Camp. For Thierry Henry it's coming home one last time before his career at the very highest level starts to tail off.

For Cesc it's going home, to the club he's linked to about 1000 times a season. The press frenzy will be enormous and endless. It's him matching up against the mates he played with in the Barca youth team, Messi and Iniesta.

For Arshavin, who was quoted about his desire to play for Barca, it's a chance to play at the same time as Messi – to pitch himself at that level as a creative-midget genius.

For Henry, it's the beginning of the long goodbye. Beckham got his chance to go home. So will our greatest centre forward, in what will be his last season at Barca.

Can we take them? It's the toughest ask of all. My gut says no. We know even if we don't we'll be treated to a spectacle of passing play which will be matchless this year.

Our hope is Cesc and the steel he's added from 6 years in the Arsenal first team – it's what might set him above Xavi and Iniesta. It's what could win it for us. If he can use the emotion of going back to the Nou Camp and deliver one of those performances like the one at the San Siro, like the one at Old Trafford in 2007, jesus, like the one at Stamford Bridge in 2005, we have hope.

We will concede though. 4-4 is a possibility!

In some ways the possibility of a Semi-final against Inter is even mightier a task. Wenger never beat Mourinho, and the animosity between the two was endless. Inter were enormously impressive beating Chelsea, with Wesley Sneijder playing Cesc's role beautifully.

Our hope there is that the physical force Mourinho used to unsettle Chelsea fails, and the lack of speed which is a key problem for Inter's aging team gives Arshavin, Nasri and Walcott (who could be key) a way through their massed ranks.

So let's say we get through those two. Let's say.

Who's left?

It looks like Man United, who have a reasonable path to a third successive final. Bayern are beatable if Ferguson can contain Robben and Ribery. The winners of Lyon and Bordeaux will be easy enough.

What redemption that could be!

We were walked all over by United in the winter. It was horrible. Just as it was in the Semi-Finals last year.

But we tore them apart at Old Trafford – losing because we couldn't score twice, then falling apart dismally. Arshavin was the element of difference that day. His ability to do something unexpected gave us a lead we deserved. When we beat them last year, Nasri was the difference. He's playing beautifully now.

Could we? Could we?

Maybe. However far we get into this journey, a major thrilling ride is guaranteed.

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