Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie determined to knock Barcelona out

While the bookmakers still make Barcelona the favourites to go through to the quarter finals of the Champions League at the expense of Arsenal, the Gunners have given themselves a chance of reaching the last eight after goals from Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin turned the tie on its head.

Van Persie was delighted at the final whistle, especially as his team had demonstrated that they could beat the Catalan club with their own passing style of football.

Robin van Persie said: “Our gameplan was 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.”

Meanwhile, captain Cesc Fabregas was quick to remark that we’re only at the halfway stage of the tie and that the hard work lies ahead at the Nou Camp.

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.”

“This time around, 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.”