Arsenal or Barcelona? 阿森纳还是巴塞罗那？

Many football fans believe the Champions League 欧洲冠军联赛 is the most exciting competition in club football.

Arsenal's Fabregas will not appear tonight

And last week's thrilling game between Arsenal and Catalan giants (西班牙)加泰罗尼亚洲巨人（足球队）Barcelona certainly added to that belief.

The first-leg quarter final 四分之一决赛的第一阶段 match was played in North London and ended in a 2-2 draw, despite a truly breathtaking display of skill and talent from Barcelona.

Arsenal can consider themselves lucky to be going into tonight's second leg第二阶段 with that result.

However, the efforts made by their players in the first match have certainly taken their toll 对他们造成了损失.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, himself a Catalan and former Barcelona youth player, broke a bone in his leg taking the penalty that saved the game for his team.

Other talismanic 带有避邪作用的（这里指为球队带来幸运的）Arsenal players who were injured in the game include the baby-faced assassin 娃娃脸暗杀手（这里指足球高手）Andrey Arshavin and key defender William Gallas.

One important player who will be fit for the game is the Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia who covered himself in glory 获得荣誉，赞美 in the first match by repeatedly denying 连续不断地阻扰了 Barcelona goals.

In fact the Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola hailed 欢呼，夸奖 Almunia's performance.

"The determining factor was Almunia, who saved 12,000 balls," Guardiola said, exaggerating 夸大 for comic effect.

Arsenal will be hoping for another excellent performance from Theo Walcott, who led the fightback 领导了回击 in last week's match.

And Walcott has promised to cause problems for Barcelona tonight.

"As an attacker you have to be on the front foot. Hopefully I can get at them and give them a problem," he said.

The expression 'to be on the front foot' means to be in an attacking rather than defensive movement.

But Barcelona, the current holders of the Champions League trophy, are unlikely to be daunted 被吓倒，使(某人)气馁 by the presence of Walcott.

"It may be really good for him to run 100m in a little over 10 seconds, but the aim is to get to the goal," said Barcelona defender Eric Abidal.

"We'll wait there for him and we'll see what he can do with the ball - let's see if he can get past four defenders."