Warrior’s Dance: The March On Barcelona

Not long now to crunch time in Barcelona. As if we don’t treat you well enough we have a couple of match previews below. First up James:

All day I have been repeatedly playing Warrior’s Dance by The Prodigy and it has me pumped for the big Champions League game tonight. For those who have not seen the music video, a dusty dead-end pub is brought to life by a tribe of cheap cigarette packets during the stills of closing hours.

First comes a whiny saxophone intro like some sort of clan calliing, before the boxes mutate into a human-like appearance, and “come with me to the dance floor” is the message for all cigarette packets to meet on the bar-top and lose themselves in a grimy session of drum and bass.

The cig packets moves freely to the music and in an act of rebellion one box smashes a used ash-tray to pieces. Towards the end of the video the same box is the leader in a mass suicide ritual.

A shot glass of flammable liquid and the strike of a match sends the army of cigarette boxes up in flames, as it seems they would rather be the masters of their own fate than lie down to the puff of another human being.

Arsenal march upon the Nou Camp tonight, and they can learn much from the tiny cigarette packets. They too must be in charge of their own fate and take over from the mortals of Barca. They are no more human than their visitors, and like Arsenal, their own injury problems goes to show.

Tonight, Zadok the Priest, the official Champions League music will replace the saxophone intro of Warrior’s Dance and the gritty bar-top cavorting area will become the Nou Camp.

Arsenal must enter the tie having no regrets about the way they play when what’s done is done, so long as they play with determination, will and courage. Like the cigarette boxes they must realise that their human enemy is not immortal and can be burnt. They must march on Catalonia tonight and tear down the walls and in due process smack that bitch up!

Injuries mount up as Barca tie looms

by Kester Wiseman - In the wake of Arsenal’s recent injury epidemic, you’d imagine Arsene Wenger is anxious for the game to start so that no more of his players can be ruled out. The news that Alex Song will miss the tie means that Arsenal will be bereft of five of their finest stars when they line up this evening (Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas and Andrey Arshavin all picked up injuries in the first leg, whilst Robin Van Persie has been missing for the best part of a season).

When Sol Campbell resigned in January, it would’ve been inconceivable for Arsenal fans to think that they would be praying for his fitness ahead of a trip to the Nou Camp just months later. But with Mikael Silvestre the only other option at centre half, the 35 year olds ability to play two matches in four days becomes imperative. Wenger showed his faith in Sol by claiming that he will play if he declares himself capable, “I believe he has another big performance in his body. He is experienced enough to tell me if he’s fit or not. I trust him completely to be responsible. He’s not on an ego trip. He doesn’t want to let the team down.”

There are also doubts over Tomas Rosicky as the Czech Republic international looks to shrug off the calf injury inflicted upon him by Karl Henry’s challenge on the weekend.   Barcelona have absentees of their own, though some of theirs are self inflicted. Pep Guardiola will be forced to select a new centre back pairing after Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol received suspension inducing cautions in last weeks match. The Spanish giants were further rocked when Zlatan Ibrahimovic injured his calf in the warm up for Saturday’s clash with Athletic Bilbao. The Swedish striker scored both of his sides goals at the Emirates, and his absence will likely pave the way for Bojan Krkic to make his first Champions League start of the season.

If Arsenal are to progress to the semi-finals of Europe’s elite competition, they will need Theo Walcott to repeat his heroics of last Wednesday. The winger terrorised Maxwell after coming on as a subsitute with the score at 0-2, and dragged his side back into the tie with a goal and also played a part in the winning of the penalty. Walcott isn’t short of big game experience in Europe (his surging run gave Arsenal hope against Liverpool in 2008) and he hopes to give Eric Abidal similar problems this evening, and will be looking to attack from the first whistle, “As an attacker you have to be on the front foot. If I can create space for some of the others then that’s all part of my job.”