Last year when Arsenal came to the Camp Nou in the Champions League quarter finals they got hammered, they were taken apart by a great Barcelona performance. This time was different, the stats show that Barcelona outclasses the London team, and that was not the reality.

The pain may be greater because with 30 minutes left to play in the tie Arsenal held a 3-2 aggregate lead when disaster struck. Robin van Persie was sent off for the softest red card I think I’ve ever seen. He played the ball through after the whistle had gone and was got his second booking for the game.

Arsenal missed van Persie last weekend in the rather uneventful 0-0 draw with Sunderland at the weekend and against Barcelona, down such an important player I think it’s fair to say this really did change the game.

The brutal truth is Arsenal did not pose much of a threat, but none the less they were in this game until the last 30 minutes. It’s been a tough 10 days for Wenger’s team, loosing to Birmingham in the Carling Cup, failing to take what most people saw as a must win game against Sunderland and now being knocked out the champions league.

The big games keep coming, as next weekend is the FA Cup quarter final against Manchester United.

Three weeks ago the first leg of this game produced a fantastic game of football. Tonight was different, Barcelona came out to do a job and clearly showed Arsenal more respect and played a tactically a very different game. They played with control and dominated possession; at the Emirates they played with more flair, played further forward and gave Arsenal space to work in.

Tonight they took that space away, denied the visitors the ball and showed why they are week-in, week-out the best team in the world. Barcelona knew what they had to do and executed perfectly. They were good when they needed to be, controlled the rest of the time and the 3-1 score line is reflective of the level they played at.

There were early defeats in the group stage that mean Arsenal ended up facing one of the group winners. This is a good Arsenal team and they play some very attractive football. They still have a chance in the Premier League and the FA cup and there are moments where they look like a different team (going from 4-0 up to 4-4 with Newcastle a few weeks ago), but when they play well they can beat anyone.

The FA Cup game at United is live on Saturday, it’s has the makings of a great game of football. Then of course next Tuesday is the opening game of the Sounders season.

Look down the fixture list of any football club (actually any sports team) and there are big games. The games against Portland and Vancouver stand out for the Sounders this year. I think the Houston games have a little extra bite to them.

These are the games you put a little asterisk against and make sure nothing else is going on that day.

Then there are the massive games, these are the ones matter to the fans of the game rather than just fans of the team. Titans clash and there is something on the line.

These you plan your entire week around, anticipate, think about, and obsess. These are the huge nights. This week there has been a couple of these massive games in the UEFA Champions League.

Last night was Tottenham in the San Siro. Before the game Spurs manager (and ex Sounders player and manager) Harry Redknapp engaged in a few mind games. He said “we will have a right go” and Harry was true to his word. They took the game to Milan from the first minute and at half time they were right to feel they had held their own against the reigning European and world club champions.

This performance and result was proof that this Spurs side not only belongs at this level but if they raise their game like this deserve to be regarded as genuine contenders. To provide a little perspective, this was the current champions (and Serie A leaders) and they were comprehensively beaten in their own stadium.

Tottenham came with a plan and executed wonderfully, but with a lot of discipline, especially at the back. They soaked up huge amounts of pressure and pressed forward quickly when given a break. As for the goal, it was made by Aaron Lennon’s wonderful run, the defender came out to stop him and Lennon made sure he missed. Crouch’s positioning was perfect, the keeper could not cover both players and the finish was made to look easy.

Harry Redknap knows the job is not done. They have to defend the lead at White Hart Lane, but Spurs have given themselves a wonderful chance to go through to the last eight, and there is no one they should be scared of.

Tonight was Barcelona playing Arsenal in London. Last year these teams met in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and we were treated to 30 minutes of Barcelona putting on a clinic, they played maybe the best football I’ve ever seen. I was in Guildford and watched the game sitting with dad. We both sat there in silence, just astounded by how good this team was.

I’ve watched Arsenal play a few times this year and they are a very attractive team to watch, they play a beautiful passing game and Arsene Wenger knows how to win games. This had the makings of a great game, two sides that play the game the way it’s supposed to be. And it delivered.

Before this match there were a lot of idea put around about how to beat this Barcelona side. Some said play a more physical game; others said play them tight and take away space. Last year in this fixture it did look like Arsenal gave Barcelona too much space and respect.

That never happened this time, they pressured every time Barcelona had the ball. It seemed to work for a time and there were times the Spanish leaders were forced to hoof the ball clear. Very uncharacteristic and a sign that Arsenals tactics were working.

Arsenals tactics did lead to the Barcelona goal, the midfield pushed up, was unable to close them down and gave David Villa the space to finish. As the first half wore on Barcelona did seem to play better and better, by the break Barcelona did look somewhat in control and were moving the ball around well.

Wenger did seem to change things a little at half time, they ran at them a little more and the defenders were caught high a couple of times.

The home side definitely had better chances as the game wore on, with a high back four when Barcelona were caught on the break they did look venerable to pace through the channels and a number of decent chances came to both sides, but as the game went on Arsenal looked the more composed side and adsorbed the pressure well.

Van Persie scored the equalizer. He did well to get onto a ball through played through the back four and did well to beat the keeper on the near post from a tight angle. The winner was a classic Arsenal end-to-end counter attack. The Barcelona attack broke down and the ball went from Nasri to Arshavin who hit a beautifully controlled shot past the keeper.

The game was as good as I’d hoped, both sides played their part and Arsenal found a way to press Barcelona and used their pace to get behind the defense. Barcelona had moments of dominance, but were unable to really break the defenders down constantly.

These games set up a pair of fascinating ties in three weeks time at the Camp Nou, and White Hart Lane, and that’s another two massive games for fans of the game.

The game is full of moments both great to many and utterly insignificant to most. Rickki Vilas goal against City, Liverpool winning the European Cup in Istanbul, Beckham scoring against Greece in injury time, Gerard’s hat trick against Germany (Oh, that night in Munich, it’s sad that it’s a dacde since England had somehting that big to celebrate, France and Bulgaria at St James Park in Euro 96, Aldershot beating Wolves on a rainy Saturday evening, Seattle winning the Open Cup at home or going out on Younge Street with the Tartan Army after a meaningless friendly between Scotland and Canada in Toronto.

These are nights I will never forget, strangers hugged, tears shed and suffering shared all in the name of the game. And if you love this game, you’d better know how to suffer, ‘cause you do a lot of that as a fan.

It’s easy to declare yourself a Manchester United fan, buy the shirt and switch on Fox Soccer Channel on a Sunday morning and bask in the reflected glory. No emotional investment, no need to visit Manchester or even able to pick it out on a map (with apologies to Rob, who can actually find Manchester on a map).

To really support a club you have to emotionally invest yourself, and I do believe that often the club picks you and when it happens there is not much you can do about it. A friend is a Burnley supporter, he’s got no idea why, he just does. Last year he and his wife went to a game while on holiday in England. I can’t imagine what he had to do to sell his better half on a trip to Lancashire to watch the Clarets play.

I’m still not sure how I ended up as a Coventry City supporter, certainly not the infamous shit-brown away strip they had one year. It may have been the FA cup win in ’87, not because of the win but maybe because it was the best cup final I’ve ever seen. Equally it could have been some long forgotten moment of brilliance on Match of the Day.

I’ve been to plenty of Coventry City games at Highfield Road when I lived there, and once to the new Ricoh Arena long after I moved out. I’ve seen Robbie Keene, Dion Dublin, Gary McAllister, John Salako, Darren Huckerby, Wee Gordon Strachen grace Highfield Road with some great football and moments of brilliance. To be fair, for each moment of brilliance there were five 1-0 losses in the rain and mud of January and February, but through those losses and crap games I think I’ve earned the right to say I know what suffering is.

That experience in Coventry is one of the things that’s made this last couple of years with the Sounders so special, I appreciate all the more supporting a club that is competitive and wins things. I’ve never seen a side I’m emotionally invested in win a major trophy at home before the open cup win this year, it’s a rare event, a privilege to be there and the atmosphere was as good as I’ve ever experienced.

Even something as irrelevant as playing in the Greater Seattle Soccer League recreational division on a summers evening. Going for a drink after the game, reliving the moments, giving commentary and flipping each other crap about mistakes made and glory missed.

In all these cases it’s the people I shared the moment with make it so special. Brought together by the game for just a brief moment. Class, education, occupation, where you live, it all means nothing once you walk through the gates of the ground or the front door of the pub; it’s about us verses them and for the next 90 minutes (plus injury time) nothing else matters.

At it’s very best this is what sport can do. It is not about the overpaid players, records and massive TV contracts.

At its heart I believe its about community, celebrating the great and sharing the bad. Support any team and there is typically more bad than good, and appreciating the good times while they are happening is not always easy. But when you do capture that moment it is so much fun to be part of something that much bigger than you.

I may have learned how to suffer in silence following Coventry, but I know I’m not suffering alone. There are others afflicted by the same thing, maybe 25,000 of them on a good day at the Ricoh.

Perhaps the key to footballs brilliance lies in its fundamental simplicity: 22 men, two goals and a ball. The game is easy to understand, but when played well can be absolutely breathtaking to watch.

It’s not all about Beckham putting 5 feet of curve on the ball and beating the keeper from 30 yards out, as spectacular as that is. The beauty comes from a team working together, passing, moving the ball, speeding up and slowing the game as they look for a way to score.

Then there is the high drama that the game excels in providing. The highest of all drama involved Stuart Pearce. He missed a penalty in the World Cup Semi-final in Rome in 1990, six years later he had a chance at redemption against Spain at Wembley. At the end of extra time the score was level at 0-0. Remember, this was for a place in the last four at Euro 96.

It says so much about Pearce’s character that he clearly wanted the ball, he wanted to put it away and bury what had happened against Germany.

He did not place his spot kick, he blasted it, bottom right hand corner. The look on his face and his reaction to the England fans said everything. He had been living with the missed penalty in the World cup for six years and this was redemption. Zubizarreta was in the Spanish goal, a true world class keeper, but that afternoon he was facing more than just Stuart Pierce, he was up against the millions that remember the night in Turin. He had no chance.

These moments make the game so special. I was talking with dad about this a couple of days ago. He semi-joked that being and England supporter is about being let down. And he’s right, the great nights in England history are all long in the past. Arguably the most recent was that night in Munich, and that was almost a decade ago now. We are due, but so are many, many other supporters, and that emotional investment is what separates us.

At it’s very best the game is beautiful, it’s about a team working for each other. Bill Shankly referred to this as the right sort of socialism.