Arsenal: Meeting the Challenge

Almost five years ago I watched Barcelona come from a goal down to beat Arsenal to win the Champions League. A year ago, in the quarter-finals, I watched them repeat the turnaround - only that time they (Messi) added a couple more.

Interestingly, on both occasions I was watching at a friend's house (the friend likes Barcelona, and he made me sure I knew it on both of those nights). This year I did all I could to change the fortunes - and not just relocating from the friend's house to a local pub, but also eating a 'double Decker' earlier in the day (I remembered that the last time I ate one of those was in an Arsenal trophy-winning season).

And it worked. Wednesday was one of those great Champions League nights you tend to remember - not quite the Liverpool victory in 2005 or Man Utd's in 1999 but memorable all the same. And it was strange, because we had all anticiapted a great match (given that it was the best team in the world meeting their not-quite-as-good replicates), yet we were still taken aback by just how brilliant it was.

It's easy to shirk from the excitement of Arsenal's victory. The sceptic will tell you that Barcelona are still favourites: they only have a one goal deficit to overturn (something they're clearly good at), and they have 90 minutes at the Nou Camp and an away goal to help them do it.

But the significance of Wednesday's result should not be dismissed as readily as that. The swathe of the Barcelona attack was a carbon copy of what they delivered a year ago in the same fixture. And just like a year ago, it came to fruition. The difference this time round, though, was that Arsenal could stave it off. Preventing that second goal (however much a part they actually played in that) meant that the other repeat of last year - two late goals - gave Arsenal a win and not a draw.

So it was that this year, Arsenal went one step further. They go into the return leg only a goal better than they did last year; should that game repeat itself, that advantage will count for nothing. But I'm confident that the step they have made is a big one. Last year they went to the Nou Camp with a snatch-grab draw; this year they go with a triumph.

The task now is to turn victory into valiance - to be fearless, not frightened - only then will Arsenal realise their progress.