Chelsea Succeeds Where Arsenal Could Not

Arsenal’s crosstown rivals capped a very bad week at the Camp Nou this week with its thrilling 3-2 aggregate win in the Champions League semifinal earlier today.  Arsenal fans who watched this game, as well as the first leg last week in London, must have been reminded of last year’s tie between Barcelona and Arsenal.  In that matchup, Arsenal took the first leg at home in one of the great matches recent memory, but conceded a vital away goal to the visitors.  The Gunners then went to the Camp Nou and, despite performing admirably, lost Robin van Persie to a highly questionable red card.  Despite being down to 10 men, Arsenal was still given a late chance to snatch victory but Nicklas Bendtner failed to capitalize.
It’s easy to see similarities between that tie and this year’s semifinal.  Though John Terry’s early sending off Tuesday...