There’s a real competition going on to decide whether Wayne Rooney or Lionel Messi is the best player in the world. That’s because both Rooney and Messi are consistently producing at a level considerably higher than their peers, especially when it matters. However, at the club level, the argument over who plays the best football still inevitably ends up involving Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. But if consistent production when it matters is a prerequisite for being considered the best footballing side in the world, it’s odd that these two sides so frequently reside in the same sentence.
Barcelona won the treble last year, winning the Champions League, La Liga, and the Copa del Rey. This is a Barcelona side with three players who could have been FIFA’s World Player of the Year last season. Arsenal, however, has not won a domestic or European trophy since 2005 (although they did make the UEFA Champions League final in 2006). Their captain and star player, Cesc Fabregas, isn’t even an automatic selection for the Spanish National Team, at least not yet. Last season, the Gunners finished fourth in the English Premier League (EPL), eighteen points behind the champions, Manchester United – a team that Barcelona owned in last year’s Champions League final. So why are we still constantly hearing about Arsenal and Barcelona in the same sentence?
Let me suggest that the matchup that football purists are really craving isn’t the match that’s on this afternoon (at least in the U.S.). The 2006 UEFA Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona wasn’t even the match everyone really wanted. What we want to see is this year’s Barcelona team against the 2003-2004 Arsenal Invincible side that went the entire EPL season undefeated. We want to see Messi, Iniesta, and Xavi line up against the 2003-2004 versions of Henry, Bergkamp, Viera, and Pires. When it comes to the best technical, most stylish sides of the past decade, these two are the gold standard (alright, we can also add the 2001-2002 Real Madrid side). We are simply hoping that this Arsenal side can be as good as their predecessors. But dwelling in the past makes one thing clear — our collective nostalgia for Arsenal’s past accomplishments taints our perspective of what Arsenal has been in reality for the last five years.
So what can we make of this Arsenal side? Ever since Thierry Henry’s final season at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has been talking up his side and his players while maintaining that his team is still young and in transition. And it’s true, this Arsenal side is both young and talented, but it has also been inconsistent and unable to win big matches when it matters. But on certain occasions, the team’s potential has been clear to all. On their day, Arsenal can play some scintillating football. But today’s match is more of a hope than a given for the football purists. We hope that the side that Arsene wants, and most football purists want, shows up.
This season is a turning point for Arsenal. A Champions League tie against the undisputed king of European football (Barcelona) and the undisputed king of world football (Messi) is hours away. Arsenal is still within striking distance of the EPL title. This Arsenal side might not have a better opportunity to earn its plaudits. But when it comes to style points, it’s the Barcelona tie that captures the imagination, largely because it presents the opportunity to shift this Arsenal team’s reality from a team of potential to a team that earns its Barcelona comparison. As it stands, the only recent Arsenal side that deserves that comparison played in 2003-2004. I refuse to be blinded by nostalgia. Only a performance over these two legs will convince me that this Arsenal side belongs in the same sentence as Barcelona.
