Arsene Wenger was taught a striking lesson by one-time Arsenal target Luis Suarez

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James Olley17 March 2016

Missed opportunities. It is a phrase that threatens to define Arsenal’s season. There is no disgrace in losing to this Barcelona side and the Gunners produced a performance that, when viewed in isolation, warrants considerable credit.

Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi did what they do best against a spirited Arsenal display that made this more of a contest than many were anticipating.

The trio stand unparalleled in world football as an attacking triumvirate and it will take a side boasting exceptional concentration and fortune to stop them becoming the first team to retain Europe’s premier competition in the Champions League era.

But Arsenal’s campaign must be viewed in a wider context than a face-saving display at its conclusion. After all, the Gunners are no stranger to credible second-leg performances when all seems lost and the pressure is off.

This is their sixth consecutive last-16 exit and while many before have felt like a missed opportunity at the time, it was in the group stage where they suffered considerable damage.

The defiance and commitment shown here at the Nou Camp makes defeats to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos even more inexplicable. Bayern Munich remain formidable opponents but Arsenal were never in a position to challenge them for top spot after losing their opening two games to vastly inferior opponents.

It was bad luck to be paired with the holders at this stage but a fate they unnecessarily resigned themselves to.

A developing theme in recent weeks has been to rue missed opportunities. Danny Welbeck, Alex Iwobi and Hector Bellerin did so after losing here, as did Per Mertesacker after Arsenal’s FA Cup exit to Watford last weekend.

There was a distinct pattern evident in disappointments against Manchester United, Swansea, Tottenham, Watford and in both games against Barcelona: start well, fail to make early chances pay and then contrive to fall away in one form or another. Arsenal’s strikers are in a wretched run of form. The Gunners more than held their own here until Suarez’s wonderful volley put the tie beyond them but they were again unable to make the most of several promising openings.

It did not help that at the other end, the ‘MSN’ continued to dazzle even in front of a home crowd dampened in number and enthusiasm by heavy rain. Arsenal actually had more attempts on goal — 19 to Barca’s 17 — but half as many on target, leaving Wenger to rue Barcelona’s “two or three players who can transform normal life into art”.

How Wenger must wish Arsenal had treated Liverpool with more respect than when offering £40,000,001 for Suarez in 2013. A much bigger offer may well have landed the Uruguayan then and while it may not have sat within the parameters defined by the club as value for money at the time, it would look cheap at today’s prices. Missed opportunities in the transfer market are nothing new.

Instead, he must go with what he has. Arsenal have nine Premier League games to prove that another glorious failure is not the epitaph to a season that promised so much. There was a degree of misplaced consternation at Wenger’s team selection last night, seemingly suggesting he rested several first-choice players with Saturday’s trip to Everton in mind. (Incidentally, the Frenchman was in a no-win situation in that respect, given the gravity of the task in Spain and the perilous position Arsenal find themselves in the title race).

But Welbeck is now Arsenal’s first-choice striker. Wenger has been impressed with how the 25-year-old has responded after 10 months out following knee surgery and started him for the club’s last big game, against Tottenham earlier this month.

Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott are badly out of touch — they have five goals in 39 appearances between them —meaning Welbeck is a prime candidate to start at Goodison if able to handle the workload as he rebuilds his fitness.

Mertesacker has been deemed interchangeable at the heart of Arsenal’s defence ever since he was sent off in January’s home defeat to Chelsea so recalling Laurent Koscielny alongside Gabriel and not instead of him was not the shock it may first appear. There were, however, two genuine surprises with Iwobi preferred to both Walcott and Joel Campbell while Mathieu Flamini replaced Francis Coquelin. But Wenger’s decision to start Iwobi paid off as he was one of Arsenal’s brightest players, understandably fading a little as the match wore on.

It was only Flamini’s inclusion that warranted a raised eyebrow — a hamstring injury ended his involvement shortly before the interval and, for many, not before time. There are selection dilemmas in a variety of positions but not for the reason Wenger would want; various players are struggling with a shortfall in confidence or form but there is no time to wallow with a positive result from Merseyside essential to ensuring Arsenal’s season does not peter out completely.

Leicester could be out of sight should results go against the Gunners this weekend. They won’t be the only big club left feeling this way, but should that happen, it might be the biggest missed opportunity of all.

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