Arsenal vs Barcelona: 12 match facts, including Alexis Sanchez's importance and Lionel Messi's scoring streak
The key numbers and pre-match analysis for this Champions League meeting
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Your support makes all the difference.Ahead of the Champions League meeting between Arsenal and Barcelona, we pick out 12 match facts using our free football app - Independent Football Live.
Match facts
- Arsenal, who finished second in Group F behind Bayern Munich, are the only team alongside Real Madrid to have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League every season since the new format in 2003/04. They have however been knocked out in the last 16 in each of the last five seasons.
- Barcelona, who finished top of Group E ahead of Roma, have made it to the knockout stages of the Champions League for the 12th consecutive campaign. They have reached the semi-finals in seven of the last eight campaigns. The only exception was in 2013/14 season, when they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Atletico Madrid.
- Barcelona have won the Champions League in four of the last 10 seasons. No other team has won it more than once in the same period. They could become the first team since AC Milan to win back-to-back European Cup/Champions League titles. The Rossoneri did it in 1989 & 1990.
- Barcelona have come out on top in each of their three previous Champions League home & away knockout encounters with Arsenal: 2006 final (2-1), 2009/10 quarter-final (6-3 on agg.) and 2010/11 Last 16 (4-3 on agg.).
- Arsenal and Barcelona’s seven previous Champions League encounters have produced 27 goals, an average of 3.86 per game.
- Arsenal have lost their Last 16 home tie in each of the previous three seasons, every time by a two goal margin (v Bayern Munich in 2012/13 and 2013/14, v Monaco in 2014/15).
- Arsenal have scored in their last 13 Champions League games, their best run since their 21 games in a row from October 2003 to November 2005.
- Barcelona have won 15 of their 19 Champions League games since last season (D2 L2). They’ve also never failed to score in those 19 games.
- Barcelona are one of two clubs still unbeaten in the Champions League this season, the other being Real Madrid.
- Alexis Sanchez has been directly involved in 58.3% of Arsenal’s Champions League goals this season, scoring three times and delivering four assists.
- Neymar has scored seven goals in his last five Champions League knockout games.
- Lionel Messi has scored six goals in four Champions League games against Arsenal. However, he has yet to score at the Emirates with Barcelona.
For more pre-match build-up, including head-to-head statistics, past results and player comparisons download Independent Football Live by clicking here (http://www.independent.co.uk/marketing/apps#footballApp).
The app, which is available on both Android and Apple devices, includes live scores, in-game stats, breaking news, videos and push notifications. It also provides fantastic visual statistics and animated goal maps among many other features, making it one of the best football apps available. And it's not just the Premier League we have covered, the same great coverage is available for the Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup and now Euro 2016.
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