Luis Suarez spoke after Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Arsenal at Camp Nou and admitted that the Catalans had to take advantage of playing in front of their home crowd.
The La Liga team already had a 2-0 lead going into the second leg of the tie and, therefore, they knew if we were to get anything from it, we needed to attack. This left us open and by the time the second half rolled around, the goals were flying in for Suarez’s team.
“We knew the physical condition of Arsenal, who look to play on the counter-attack, and knew we must have patience,” the former Liverpool striker told Spanish TV following Barca’s win.
“Plus they had the score, coming in 0-2 down. We were able to take advantage of playing at home where we were strong.”
The match was always going to be touch physically and we were doomed as soon as that first Lionel Messi goal went in at the Emirates. Although we never really felt we could progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season, some were optimistic we could at least give it a good go and get a win at home. Messi had other plans though.
It’s hard to feel disappointment over a tie you’d already lost.