Cheeky topic, I know. Was listening to the Brilla guys argue about it this morning, so I decided to throw it to the floor to debate.
Arsenal played in the round of 16 against Barcelona. They won 2-1 at the Emirates, and lost 3-1 at the Camp Nou.

Though it can be said that they were hard done by with a ridiculous sending-off of Robin Van Persie for kicking the ball after the referee had blown the whistle, in that game, they were pilloried right and left, and did not get a single shot on goal for the duration of the game, with a ball possesion of just 24%, surprising for the best passing team in England.

Manchester United on the other hand, lost to Barcelona in 2 finals, 2009 and 2011. Though they got the better of the Catalan giants in 2008, a season which saw them winning the UCL. Since then, they have been quite Messi-friendly; they granted him his first goal against English opposition in 2009, and also granted him his first strike on English soil in 2011.

So, fans of footie, let's have your views. Which team played better against Barcelona this year, Arsenal or Manchester United? You have the floor.

Arsenal

Arsenal played much better and I kept saying if RVP wasn't sent off or if our dumbest striker i.e Bendtner didn't lose that very last opportunity Arsenal could have edge out Barca.

you can compare the game plan in a final match with that of a group stage. a lot of cautions/precautions are usually taking. that is the reasons why many final matches are not that always interesting/spectacular.

add all the comments together with 2006 finals,over all Arsenal matched barca than ManU did,before the match they lost it already on their faces,Vidic show a war like event stepping into the field.

Arsenal played better than Man U that day. All thesame kudos to Barca

Man u was a total mess and a huge disappointment to lovers of footbal, and left us wondering, how on hell did they manage to get to the final! 3-1 was a meiosis; it shld hv bn at least 5-0, just delete that offside 1 goal from man u! From today, I consider man u as noisemakers - rem those days in primary sch!!

Arsenal did.

Arsenal but Manu gave a good account of themselves but right now BARCA are immense.

Sore losers!

tunnytox:

Arsenal played much better and I kept saying if RVP wasn't sent off or if our dumbest striker i.e Bendtner didn't lose that very last opportunity Arsenal could have edge out Barca.

it's so funny when i hear Arsenal fans talk this way, the stage was high @ wembley so you expected the better team to put up a sparkling performance. Arsenal fans are jesters, they even finished 4th on the table but they do more talking with their distressed Manager-Wenger, come on peps. In Arsene we believe (weaklings)

Arsenal fans talk from the ass, LOOOOOOOOOOSEEEEERRRRRS

Diligence:

Man u was a total mess and a huge disappointment to lovers of footbal, and left us wondering, how on hell did they manage to get to the final! 3-1 was a meiosis; it shld hv bn at least 5-0, just delete that offside 1 goal from man u!  From today, I consider man u as noisemakers - rem those days in primary sch!!

i don't know when you have been following football but i'll refer you to the UCL final in 1994 AC Vs BARCA, the match ended 4:0 in favour of Milan but Barca team lost with players like Romario, Stoichkov, Coeman etc, it's final dude, it's always different. each team has more time to learn about each other and plan her strategy, i think Sir Fegurson always gamble in the final, imagine Nani & scholes on the bench and Berbetov not on the bench, whatz valencia doing on the field even though the ref. was lenient not to have sent him off for several fouls he committed.

over two legs, arsenal mustered about the same number of shots Manchester United did in one game (the finals), Manchester United showed more spirit and took more risks. and don't give me that "if van persie weren't sent off bull". as if koscielny did not deserve to be sent off at least three different times in that match. whichever way you look at it, Arsenal fully deserved to be a man down,just that the wrong man was sent off.
lemme also give my own set of "what ifs"
1) What if Messi's first leg goal, which was eventually discovered to be legal (not offside) was allowed to stand
2) What if Koscielny got the red card(s) he fully deserved?
3) What if Messi got the penalty he also completely deserved in the first half of the second leg at the camp nou?
4) What if Victor Valdes scored a hat trick?

Se, all those scenarios didn't happen either so you'll just have to take what did happen like that.

Manchester United gave it their best shot. At least they didn't have to wait for Barcelona to score themselves to get a goal.

Arsenal did far better than the red devils abeg.

senbonzakura_kageyoshi:

over two legs, arsenal mustered about the same number of shots Manchester United did in one game (the finals), Manchester United showed more spirit and took more risks. and don't give me that "if van persie weren't sent off bull". as if koscielny did not deserve to be sent off at least three different times in that match. whichever way you look at it, Arsenal fully deserved to be a man down,just that the wrong man was sent off.
lemme also give my own set of "what ifs"
1) What if Messi's first leg goal, which was eventually discovered to be legal (not offside) was allowed to stand
2) What if Koscielny got the red card(s) he fully deserved?
3) What if Messi got the penalty he also completely deserved in the first half of the second leg at the camp nou?
4) What if Victor Valdes scored a hat trick?

Se, all those scenarios didn't happen either so you'll just have to take what did happen like that.

Manchester United gave it their best shot. At least they didn't have to wait for Barcelona to score themselves to get a goal.

Guy, there are also so many "what ifs" against man u which
could have led to the game to end at 10-1

arsenal and man u both played two different tactics, different players and different circumstances. its somewhat difficult to make comparisons. arsenal were poor at the camp nou but played better at home. man u were out-played, out-passed, out-classed and out0scored.

both English teams are years behind Barcelona. and to think the average age of barca is still mid 20s.

There are three distinct patterns that top teams have tried against Barca recently which have not enjoyed much success. The stand in your face as exposited by Mourinho in Chelsea, Inter and Real, the tippy tappy straight 4-4-2 by the Prof. and the tactical, play my game of Sir Alex. Barca have read them all and succeeded against them all. I think what makes Barca successful is that they stay absolutely true to their philosophy. They believe they can beat anyone and it sticks.

United has the better of the earlier exchanges but Barca remained calm. They remained calm in their loss to Inter in the Copa. But once the pressure was of them against United it was here we go again. If teams are able to maintain their patterns for long enough whatever you play you might as well beat Barca. Inter did it in the San Siro. You need 100% conviction. So you may ask who has the better tactical discipline, United or Arsenal. ??

man u did not put up a good fight totally displeased with their performance

arsenal has won, lost and drew against a full-strength barca squad - a feat man u has not yet, replicated

PeeDaVinci:

arsenal has won, lost and drew against a full-strength barca squad - a feat man u has not yet, replicated

when did they draw

Cardiff City would have done better than that yeye Man U.

Arsenal sure did play better.

mr.official:

Cardiff City would have done better than that yeye Man U.

Arsenal sure did play better.

are you trying to rub it in?

[size=18pt]Arsenal played better   [/size]

jmaine:

[size=18pt]Arsenal played better   [/size]

Confirmed

Arse-enal fans are such a pathetic bunch of sore losers really.

I mean, they've not won a title since the Victorian era, but they find it easy to beat their sissy chest in public and whine about who was the better loser against barca?

Very embarrassing bunch of LOOSERS!


ONE UNITED!!!

Pleas elet us not talk about this two club as per the just concluded champions league

Both Arsna & Man United are just same to my own view because I see no reason why they should both loose so badly in the concluded tournament. Barca is like a teacher to both of them(Man. U & Arsena) teaching them football upon their dominant in Premier League.

Kilode?!:

Arse-enal fans are such a pathetic bunch of sore losers really.

I mean, they've not won a title since the Victorian era, but they find it easy to beat their sissy chest in public and whine about who was the better loser against barca?

Very embarrassing bunch of LOOSERS!


ONE UNITED!!!

Dont mind dem jare, let them keep raving and ranting.
For all we care, [size=25pt]why didnt ARSENAL QUALIFIED FOR THE UCL FINALS[/size] abi dem think say na Beans?

Well, you only need to look at finals really, to have a fair assessment.

Arsenal played against a clearly better Barcelona in the 2006 final, and held their own all through, despite losing a man early. It took quite some doing for Barca to edge that tie, despite their being a man up for most of the game.

Man United, on the other hand, played two finals in 2 years, and were totally outclassed in both games, in all departments. This is strictly my opinion, but in both finals, Barcelona were not at their most brilliant best. Their regular form was still too hot for United to handle.

In conclusion, I think Arsenal played better, even though both teams are not as good as Barca. There is another way to look at it, maybe Barca overestimated United and underestimated Arsenal. After all, United have had the better measure of Arsenal over the last few years, it's only natural for the Catalans to fear United more, and hence crush them with more emphasis.

benlay:

it's so funny when i hear Arsenal fans talk this way, the stage was high @ wembley so you expected the better team to put up a sparkling performance. Arsenal fans are jesters, they even finished 4th on the table but they do more talking with their distressed Manager-Wenger, come on peps. In Arsene we believe (weaklings)

Look dude I'm not into in Arsene we trust bull shhhht I believe Arsenal deserve to have been very successful especially in the last 6 years and i also believe Wenger has a lot to answer for why this is not so.
BTW Man utd success does come at a price and judging by the fact that Arsenal hasn't spend so much the 4th positin they achieve may not be bad after all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1391980/Manchester-United-478m-debt-afford-let-Sir-Alex-spend-spend-spend.html