Van Persie happy to take game to Barca

Soccer: Arsenal beat "the best side in football's history" at their own game at the Emirates last night, according to Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie.

The Gunners came back from David Villa's first-half goal to seal a 2-1 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie thanks to late strikes from Van Persie and Andrey Arshavin.

Asked what the Gunners' game-plan was, Robin van Persie said: "Just to play our own game.

"In my opinion, and in our opinion, if you drop back too much they are so good they will in the end beat you by far. We had to beat them in their own style. We got a bit lucky but it was a fantastic win."

Cesc Fabregas was not reading too much into Arsenal's win, though. He said: "They don't lose many games. They are the best side in football's history in my opinion.

"This is 180 minutes. It's a nice victory. It will give confidence to the team but that's all."

Asked what the difference was between this year and last, when they were outplayed by Barca, he said: "First of all we don't have five or six injured players.

"Second, we are all one year older. We are mature enough to play big games. We showed it here but if we don't show it (in the second leg in Barcelona) it's nothing."

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola expects more attacking football when Arsenal travel to Camp Nou.

Barcelona know they must find the net on home soil when the two sides meet again on March 8th, with Guardiola content with the way his side performed in North London despite the defeat.

"I think we were okay. We have lost the first leg so we have to win the second leg," he said. "We controlled the play for most of the match but we know they can play very well positionally. They are very good and very fast when they counter-attack.

"If we analyse this result it is not too bad. I think in general I am happy with the performance. But we need to score goals in the second leg. They will attack and we will attack too."