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Today's Games Week 1: 08/28/10 - 08/30/10 Week 2: 09/11/10 - 09/13/10 Week 3: 09/18/10 - 09/20/10 Week 4: 09/21/10 - 09/23/10 Week 5: 09/25/10 - 09/27/10 Week 6: 10/02/10 - 10/03/10 Week 7: 10/16/10 - 10/18/10 Week 8: 10/23/10 - 10/25/10 Week 9: 10/30/10 - 11/01/10 Week 10: 11/06/10 - 11/08/10 Week 11: 11/13/10 - 11/14/10 Week 12: 11/20/10 - 11/22/10 Week 13: 11/27/10 - 11/29/10 Week 14: 12/04/10 - 12/06/10 Week 15: 12/11/10 - 12/13/10 Week 16: 12/18/10 - 12/20/10 Week 17: 01/02/11 - 01/03/11 Week 18: 01/08/11 - 01/10/11 Week 19: 01/15/11 - 01/17/11 Week 20: 01/22/11 - 01/24/11 Week 21: 01/29/11 - 01/31/11 Week 22: 02/05/11 - 02/06/11 Week 23: 02/12/11 - 02/14/11 Week 24: 02/19/11 - 02/21/11 Week 25: 02/27/11 Week 26: 03/02/11 Week 27: 03/06/11 Week 28: 03/13/11 Week 29: 03/20/11 Week 30: 04/03/11 Week 31: 04/10/11 Week 32: 04/17/11 Week 33: 04/24/11 Week 34: 05/01/11 Week 35: 05/08/11 Week 36: 05/11/11 Week 37: 05/15/11 Week 38: 05/22/11​

Saturday, February 19, 2011​
Week 24​

Mestalla
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12:00 PM ET



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Santiago Bernabéu
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2:00 PM ET



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La Romareda
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4:00 PM ET



Goals Cards Substitutions
Sunday, February 20, 2011​
Week 24​

Reyno de Navarra
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11:00 AM ET



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El Madrigal
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11:00 AM ET



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Coliseum Alfonso Pérez
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11:00 AM ET



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Juegos Mediterráneos
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11:00 AM ET



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Sánchez Pizjuán
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1:00 PM ET



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Camp Nou
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3:00 PM ET



Goals Cards Substitutions
Monday, February 21, 2011​
Week 24​

Anoeta
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3:00 PM ET

 
Andrey Arshavin's goal completes the Arsenal recovery against Barcelona





Champions Lge KO Rnd 1, Leg 1

Arsenal 2
  • van Persie 78,
  • Arshavin 83
Barcelona 1
  • Villa 26


  • Kevin McCarra at Emirates Stadium
  • The Guardian, Thursday 17 February 2011 <li class="history">Article history The Arsenal substitute Andrey Arshavin, left, scores their winner against Barcelona in the Champions League. Photograph: Tony Marshall/Empics Sport Arsenal may not have won the Champions League tie but they approach the return with a serenity that is no longer within Barcelona's reach. The visitors lost a lead and then the match. In that run of events an initially effortless side became careless and vulnerable. They ought to reproach themselves and there is now penance enough in a return at the Camp Nou that will be stressful for Barcelona no matter how it is eventually resolved.
    For the time being Arsène Wenger can settle for feeling proud of the maturity of Arsenal players whose temperaments did not shrivel even when Barcelona were at their most intimidatingly fluent. Instead Arsenal persevered in looking for weaknesses and eventually located them. Robin van Persie tied the score in the 78th minute with a drive from a tight angle on the left that ought never to have beaten Víctor Valdés at his near post.
    There was further proof to come of Barcelona fallibility. Five minutes later Cesc Fábregas set Samir Nasri moving on the right and the cut-back was swept home perfectly by the substitute Andrey Arshavin. Barcelona had come as close as seems feasible to resembling normal, intermittently accident-prone human beings. Chances were squandered as if it could be taken for granted that there would be many more to come for Lionel Messi and others.
    That assumption turned out to be a delusion and now there are matters of bare fact to occupy them. The centre-half Gerard Piqué was booked and will be suspended for the second leg. The Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola, must therefore hope that the captain Carles Puyol's recovery from a knee injury does not falter between now and 8 March.
    There was proof in abundance of Barcelona's technique and imagination, yet they were not ruthless in taking the full benefit. They had been 2-0 ahead here a year ago before drawing the first leg of the quarter-final but went on to rout Arsenal 4-1 in the return. That may account for the complacency when Barcelona neglected to drive home the advantage of David Villa's opener last night.
    Arsenal's emergence as the single likely challenger to Manchester United for the Premier League title ought to have told Barcelona that there is more of an edge to Wenger's men nowadays. With an away goal recorded in a narrow defeat Guardiola's side deserve to remain favourites for the quarter-finals but that assertion is open to more debate now than anyone anticipated.
    Meeting Barcelona is a predicament for virtually all teams but Arsenal's case is unusual. Rather than being the normal contrast of styles, this encounter saw Guardiola's side taking on opponents who would like nothing better than to emulate their methods.
    Arsenal withstood that comparison. Even when the visitors took the lead through Villa in the 26th minute it came in a spell where they might just as easily have fallen behind. Neither team was particularly convincing when seeking to thwart the other. Their heart is not in such work.
    That openness made for a frenetic yet also adroit spectacle. Barcelona could well have had a lovingly crafted opener after a quarter of an hour. Andrés Iniesta picked out Messi and he laid the ball back to Villa before breaking free on the return. It may only have been the wish to take the goal with a flourish that undermined him as a dinked shot went beyond the far post.
    Arsenal were at least as effective then in unpeeling a back four. Following good work by Theo Walcott, Fábregas lobbed a pass to Van Persie, who rattled a shot that was saved by Valdés. Even if Wenger's men blundered in their effort to spring the offside trap, Messi sending Villa in for the opener, Arsenal had been trying to dictate the terms of the match and so break a Barcelona rhythm that is as natural as a pulse.
    There had been indications from early moments that Barcelona are less sure in defence without Puyol. In that aspect the visitors could be seen as fallible human beings. They were not in full command when a run like Walcott's unpeeled the right side of the defence in the 55th minute, although his low ball was cleared. There was enough disquiet in Barcelona for Piqué to receive his yellow card, after bringing down Fábregas.
    There was a gathering conviction to Arsenal and, in consequence, the odd indication of alarm in the visitors as the second half assumed its shape. It took 20 minutes or more before Barcelona enjoyed a studied period of possession as they probed around the edges of the Arsenal penalty area. Two substitutions reflected managerial outlooks.
    Guardiola's preference was conservative, as Seydou Keita took over from Villa, while Wenger pitched on the creative Arshavin for the holding midfielder Alex Song. The match had turned pensive. That was natural after two sides who had regularly swept around this pitch realised that they resemble normal footballers in one respect. They, too, can get very tired. Arsenal still mustered a perseverance that took them to victory.
 
Andrey Arshavin's shot has Arsenal's name reverberating around Europe

Barcelona left dazed after Arsène Wenger's 'lightweights' puncture self-belief of club football's most daunting team




  • Alex Song sends Barcelona's Lionel Messi tumbling during Arsenal's 2-1 Champions League win at the Emirates Stadium. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters If you tell a football team often enough that they are the best in the world, by which you really mean that their attacking players win matches by scoring goals more beautifully than anyone else around, there is a chance their defenders may believe it applies to them, too. Then they may fall into the sort of trap sprung by Arsenal last night at the pulsating, heart-in-mouth climax of a match that had spent most of 80 minutes deceiving us into thinking it was proceeding to the orderly and logical conclusion of a Barcelona victory.
    Brilliantly taken goals in the last 12 minutes from Robin van Persie, so profligate in the early stages, and Andrey Arshavin, who has hardly had a decent kick all season, gave Arsenal a 2-1 lead that they will take into the second leg of their round-of-16 tie at the Camp Nou on 8 March, and which offers them a credible chance of a place in the quarter&#8209;finals.
    Be honest, now. Before last night's match had taken its final convulsive twist, were Arsène Wenger's bunch of lightweights and fancy-pants the team you would choose to fight for your life in the last dozen minutes of a crucial tie? Opinions in that particular debate may have to be swiftly revised. Even Sir Alex Ferguson would have to admire the guts that swept the north London side from a losing position to a tumultuous victory against the most daunting opposition available in world football.
    Though it has not in itself guaranteed a trophy, this could be accounted the finest single victory of Wenger's 14 years in charge at Highbury and the Emirates. From measuring success against Barcelona only in terms of stronger resistance than they were able to show in their 6-3 aggregate defeat at the hands of the same opponents last year, they were able to make the transition to looking their opponents squarely in the eye and leaving the field after shaking their hands as winners.
    As for Barcelona, now they know they have a fight on their hands when Arsenal arrive in the Catalan capital next month. Had they preserved the 1-0 lead given them by David Villa midway through the first half, they might have been able to cruise through the second leg. Instead the last-ditch collapse of their defence means they will not be able to rely on tieing up their opponents in a web of endless ball retention, but must come out and score goals. At which, it will be remembered, they are generally rather good.
    And there will be, of course, unbounded satisfaction in Arsenal's corner of the capital that they have managed to steal the thunder of their neighbours. Only 24 hours earlier Tottenham Hotspur earned their own historic first-leg victory against Milan, seven times winners of the European Cup, in Italy. With Chelsea facing FC Copenhagen next week, now London &#8211; which has never produced a European Cup-winning side &#8211; is contemplating a decent chance of sending three teams into the last eight.
    How remote such a possibility had seemed in the early stages, even though the home side had begun by fulfilling Samir Nasri's promise that they would not be the "naive Arsenal" of 10 months ago. After Barcelona had opened the match with several suave passages of uninterrupted possession, Arsenal began to give as good as they were getting, with Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere, their two young Englishmen, at the heart of their most telling efforts.
    Walcott jinked his way into the penalty area with a multidirectional dribble that immobilised the jade&#8209;shirted defenders before Cesc Fábregas refined the move with a chip to Van Persie, who was unable to beat Víctor Valdés.
    The Dutchman was more wasteful when he sliced his shot wide from a perfect position after the defence had been dismantled by a thrilling run and exquisite pass from Wilshere, who won the ball cleanly and distributed it with lethal accuracy all night.
    But Barcelona are still Barcelona, able at any time to create panic and despondency through the consistent application of sheer quality, and no football stadium containing 60,000 people can have fallen as silent during play as the Emirates after 15 minutes, when Lionel Messi stunned Andrés Iniesta's pass back to Villa, accepted the immediate return and broke clear to the left of the Arsenal goal.
    A frozen hush settled over the ground as the little Argentinian genius closed on the transfixed Wojciech Szczesny. Messi had been thoughtful enough to wear bright orange boots, lest anyone should find it difficult to recognise his Beatle haircut or his uniquely sudden movements, like a little rag doll being jerked into life by an electric current. Now he measured a gentle chip to his own exacting standards, delivered it as gently as though he were wearing satin slippers, and then watched with horror as the ball rolled just wide of the far post.
    This was not, after all, destined to be Messi's 41st club goal of the season but one of his much rarer misses. North London let out a gasp of relief and started breathing again. Arsenal's worst fears had been temporarily averted, although not for long. And there was another hour of agony to go &#8211; including, amazingly, another Messi miss: two chances, no goals, disbelief all round &#8211; before deliverance arrived.
    First Van Persie, from the most acute angle, produced a shot of unearthly penetration. Then it was left to Arshavin, so often disappointing in recent months, to strike the blow that will resound around Europe.
 
Andrey Arshavin's shot has Arsenal's name reverberating around Europe

Barcelona left dazed after Arsène Wenger's 'lightweights' puncture self-belief of club football's most daunting team




  • Alex Song sends Barcelona's Lionel Messi tumbling during Arsenal's 2-1 Champions League win at the Emirates Stadium. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters If you tell a football team often enough that they are the best in the world, by which you really mean that their attacking players win matches by scoring goals more beautifully than anyone else around, there is a chance their defenders may believe it applies to them, too. Then they may fall into the sort of trap sprung by Arsenal last night at the pulsating, heart-in-mouth climax of a match that had spent most of 80 minutes deceiving us into thinking it was proceeding to the orderly and logical conclusion of a Barcelona victory.
    Brilliantly taken goals in the last 12 minutes from Robin van Persie, so profligate in the early stages, and Andrey Arshavin, who has hardly had a decent kick all season, gave Arsenal a 2-1 lead that they will take into the second leg of their round-of-16 tie at the Camp Nou on 8 March, and which offers them a credible chance of a place in the quarter&#8209;finals.
    Be honest, now. Before last night's match had taken its final convulsive twist, were Arsène Wenger's bunch of lightweights and fancy-pants the team you would choose to fight for your life in the last dozen minutes of a crucial tie? Opinions in that particular debate may have to be swiftly revised. Even Sir Alex Ferguson would have to admire the guts that swept the north London side from a losing position to a tumultuous victory against the most daunting opposition available in world football.
    Though it has not in itself guaranteed a trophy, this could be accounted the finest single victory of Wenger's 14 years in charge at Highbury and the Emirates. From measuring success against Barcelona only in terms of stronger resistance than they were able to show in their 6-3 aggregate defeat at the hands of the same opponents last year, they were able to make the transition to looking their opponents squarely in the eye and leaving the field after shaking their hands as winners.
    As for Barcelona, now they know they have a fight on their hands when Arsenal arrive in the Catalan capital next month. Had they preserved the 1-0 lead given them by David Villa midway through the first half, they might have been able to cruise through the second leg. Instead the last-ditch collapse of their defence means they will not be able to rely on tieing up their opponents in a web of endless ball retention, but must come out and score goals. At which, it will be remembered, they are generally rather good.
    And there will be, of course, unbounded satisfaction in Arsenal's corner of the capital that they have managed to steal the thunder of their neighbours. Only 24 hours earlier Tottenham Hotspur earned their own historic first-leg victory against Milan, seven times winners of the European Cup, in Italy. With Chelsea facing FC Copenhagen next week, now London – which has never produced a European Cup-winning side – is contemplating a decent chance of sending three teams into the last eight.
    How remote such a possibility had seemed in the early stages, even though the home side had begun by fulfilling Samir Nasri's promise that they would not be the "naive Arsenal" of 10 months ago. After Barcelona had opened the match with several suave passages of uninterrupted possession, Arsenal began to give as good as they were getting, with Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere, their two young Englishmen, at the heart of their most telling efforts.
    Walcott jinked his way into the penalty area with a multidirectional dribble that immobilised the jade&#8209;shirted defenders before Cesc Fábregas refined the move with a chip to Van Persie, who was unable to beat Víctor Valdés.
    The Dutchman was more wasteful when he sliced his shot wide from a perfect position after the defence had been dismantled by a thrilling run and exquisite pass from Wilshere, who won the ball cleanly and distributed it with lethal accuracy all night.
    But Barcelona are still Barcelona, able at any time to create panic and despondency through the consistent application of sheer quality, and no football stadium containing 60,000 people can have fallen as silent during play as the Emirates after 15 minutes, when Lionel Messi stunned Andrés Iniesta's pass back to Villa, accepted the immediate return and broke clear to the left of the Arsenal goal.
    A frozen hush settled over the ground as the little Argentinian genius closed on the transfixed Wojciech Szczesny. Messi had been thoughtful enough to wear bright orange boots, lest anyone should find it difficult to recognise his Beatle haircut or his uniquely sudden movements, like a little rag doll being jerked into life by an electric current. Now he measured a gentle chip to his own exacting standards, delivered it as gently as though he were wearing satin slippers, and then watched with horror as the ball rolled just wide of the far post.
    This was not, after all, destined to be Messi's 41st club goal of the season but one of his much rarer misses. North London let out a gasp of relief and started breathing again. Arsenal's worst fears had been temporarily averted, although not for long. And there was another hour of agony to go – including, amazingly, another Messi miss: two chances, no goals, disbelief all round – before deliverance arrived.
    First Van Persie, from the most acute angle, produced a shot of unearthly penetration. Then it was left to Arshavin, so often disappointing in recent months, to strike the blow that will resound around Europe.
 
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