Modern football is often derided as a soulless money-spinning venture, one which sucks money out of fans' pockets to line those of chairmen and players alike; this may be true, but when you've just watched your side come from behind to beat one of the best teams ever to play the game, well, you can't help but feel priviliged even to have been witness to the event. Wednesday night at the Emirates will live long in the memory as one of Arsenal's truly great European nights, up there with the Gunner's 1-0 win against Parma in the 1994 Cup Winner's Cup Final, or the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Villareal when Lehmann's penalty save minutes from the end ensured progression to the final.

Last year when the two teams met in the quarter-final, the game was billed as the definitive clash between the two greatest proponents of attacking football in modern European football, and whilst the game was certainly an exciting one, Arsenal didn't even come close to matching Barcelona in terms of skill, guile, movement and passing and were completely outplayed for the vast majority of the game. The Gunners had given Barca too much respect, it was said, and the game was too open. This is largely true, although somewhat overlooked was the fact that Arsenal were also suffering an injury crisis - only 4 players who started in last season's 2-2 draw would start last night's tie too. This season Wenger was simply able to choose a much better first XI.

Szczesny has rightly earned his place in goal with a string of confident performances, whilst Koscielny and Djourou look increasingly impressive as a centre defensive partnership in the continued absence of Thomas Vermaelen. Jack Wilshere, who this time least year was out on loan at Bolton has become an incredibly important player for Arsenal in the middle, and Wenger also had the luxury of starting Van Persie, who, following surgery to put him back together after his fall off that wall, has been in unbelievable form, and now has something like 12 goals in 10 games since his return. Fabregas, Song, Clichy, Eboue, Walcott and Nasri made up the rest of the team, so all in all, it was a much improved side which walked out onto the Emirates turf this time around.

The improvement in quality was instantly noticeable - Arsenal began pressing Barcelona high up the pitch, and were rewarded with several misplaced passes from the visitors. There was further encouragment when the first chance of the night fell to Van Persie. Walcott cut inside to find Fabregas on the edge of the area and his deft chip fell to the Dutchman, but his half volley was from a narrow angle and Victor Valdes was able to block it behind for a corner. There was to be no repeat of Barca's relentless onslaught last season that saw Manuel Almunia make more than a few spectacular saves in the early stages, but the visitors did carve out a great opportunity when Iniesta released Messi, the little Argentine waiting and waiting for the goalie to go to ground before dinking the ball over him, only to see it roll the wrong side of the post. Messi would try another audacious chip, this one falling well short of the target however, allowing Szczesny to safely gather before Arsenal broke at pace, Van Persie denied a free header from Fabregas' cross only by a diving intervention from Eric Abidal.

Like last year Barcelona would be the ones to take the lead however. David Villa, drafted in to replace the Milan bound Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was just onside when he ran onto Messi's through ball, and the Spaniard finished through the legs of Szczesny. Villa almost turned provider minutes later but Pedro could only shoot straight at the keeper from the striker's cross. Arsenal responded well though, and perhaps should have grabbed an equaliser when Van Persie received the ball just inside the box but, on his favoured left foot, he sliced his effort wide.

Messi would have a goal disallowed unfairly before half time but the sides went in at the break with Arsenal 1-0 down, both teams ruing several missed chances. The second half would start in much the same way that the first ended, with Barca on top but Arsenal always looking to break. Wilshere in particular was a vital presence in the centre of the pitch. The youngster always wanted the ball regardless of how tightly he was being marked, and rarely failed to pick out another Arsenal player when in possession.

Messi would again come close but could only fire into the side netting from a tight angle, but Arsenal increased their pressure at the other end with the introduction of Andrey Arshavin at the expense of Alex Song. Song played an extremely important role in restricting the freedom of the Barcelona midfielders, but the Cameroonian, already booked in the first half, looked like he might be heading for a second yellow. Fortunately his withdrawl coincided with that of David Villa, replaced by midfielder Seydou Keita, a change which suggested that Barca were happy to soak up pressure for the remainder of the game.

It was a tactic which allowed Arsenal to score twice late on in this fixture last season, and quite incredibly the same thing happened again. Firsy Clichy found Van Persie with a wonderfully weighted through ball, and with Valdes clearly expecting a cross to be driven across the six yard box, the striker fired in a shot between goalkeeper and post to level the scores. Five minutes later a Barcelona attack broke down when Koscielny tackled Messi on the edge of the area - the ball found its way to Bendtner who was able to find Wilshere in midfield, who quickly played it forward to Fabregas. The midfielder took a touch before pinging a ball beyond the defence for Nasri to race onto; the Frenchman looked certain to shoot, but he held the ball up just long enough for Arshavin to appear on the edge of the box, and the eponymous Russian made no mistake with Nasri's pullback, bending it beyond the wrong-footed Valdes. 5 passes, 17 seconds, 2-1 Arsenal.

The atmosphere inside the Emirates, which had been electric for most of the second half, reached fever pitch. It was a turnaround which far surpassed that of Newcastle; this was not 11 versus 10, there were no dodgy penalties, this was sheer determination and skill against the best team in the world, no less. This wasn't Arsenal beating Barca at their own game either, as some journalists have suggested - this was Arsenal playing the way they have done since 1996 when Arsene Wenger took charge. This is our game, and we're damn good at it - just ask Barcelona.

Arsenal must now travel to the Nou Camp knowing that their opponents can and will throw everything at them for ninety minutes. If the Gunners are to stand any chance of progression then they'll need to play as well if not better than they did at the Emirates. They should be buoyed by the knowledge that this Barcelona team is not invincible. Perhaps more importantly they will face a Barca side without their first choice central defensive partnership: Puyol looks set to miss out with injury, whilst Piqué picked up a booking that rules him out of the second leg.

A thrashing in the second leg might go some way to sullying the memory of last night's game, but a respectable defeat, or, however unlikely, a draw or victory, will ensure that the 2-1 win over Barcelona will be remembered fondly for some time to come. Truly one of the great European nights at the Arsenal.