Exactly what Arsenal don't need

Samir Nasri just took a knock from Milito on a sliding challenge he didn't see coming. The Barca man got the ball, but Nasri seem to roll his ankle a bit. He was limping and needed treatment. Although he came back on the field.

Messi roofed it

Messi just roofed one after taking a deflected ball down, but luckily for Arsenal it was on the top of the net instead of inside it

Messi first test of the game

No surprise less than five minutes in Messi has the first best effort of the game that Almunia made a nice save to keep out of the far post.

Zero hour is upon: Barcelona v. Arsenal leg 2 from the Camp Nou

Well the day has already begun as Inter easily walked over CSKA Moscow in Moscow 1-0 and 2-0 on aggregate.

Now the tastier of the two treats is set to begin in just moments. The first match was surely a great result for Barcelona who drew at Arsenal 2-2 and most importantly got not one but two crucial away goals without losing. Arsenal essentially must win this game at the Nou Camp, something that will prove to be an incredibly difficult test. Barcelona is surely the best team in the world going today club or country in my opinion and they may also be the greatest assemblement of talent every put together.

As the pregame people said, it would be the Gunners greatest result ever if they can pull off the shock upset. Some big names are missing on both sides Fabregas, Arshavin, Song for Arsenal- Puyol and Pique for Barca. The handshakes have been made stay tuned all afternoon.

Somewhere Alan Shearer smiles

It's hard enough to keep up with the EPL, FA Cup, Champions League, etc. so I won't pretend that I've been glued to the League Championship results in England (the equivalent of Triple A) this season.

I am happy to report though that Newcastle United has secured a promotion with five matches remaining.

Conversely, Peterborough is being relegated so you might want to return that Peterborough jersey your mum just bought you for the last Bank Holiday. Cheers.

Who will fill the second striker spot for the US?

Shimer and I have admitted multiple times that we're not Brian Ching fans. Still, we never like to see any of the prospective US national team members get hurt.

A striker on the Houston Dynamo, Ching hurt his left hamstring last Thursday playing for the Dynamo and he's expected to miss the next few weeks. This could hamper his World Cup preparations and truth be told, nobody knows who will step into the second striker position alongside Jozy Altidore.

Ching and Colorado's Conor Casey are competing to make the 23-man roster. The US will gather for a final training camp in mid-May before their two exhibitions in the States: May 25 vs. Czech Republic in East Hartford and May 29 vs. Turkey in Philly. They also play Australia on June 5 in South Africa, ahead of their World Cup opener June 12 vs. England.

Fabregas done for Champions League and maybe World Cup

First of all, I'd like to apologize for Shimer and myself. The lack of posts lately has been embarrassing and it's something that both of us feel terrible about. It won't happen again.

Last week, the big news out of the Arsenal-Barcelona Champions League quarterfinal after the first leg, was that Gunners star midfielder Cesc Fabregas broke his leg (after a rough challenge and then taking a penalty kick) and will be out for the rest of the tournament.

That's also relevant to Spain, Fabregas usually comes off the bench for the Spanish who have a real shot to win the 2010 World Cup and now it looks like he'll miss out on South Africa which is a shame.

He'll miss at least the next six weeks after cracking his lower right fibula during last Wednesday's 2-2 tie with Barcelona at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners have five more EPL games left before the season ends on May 9. On May 11, World Cup teams submit 30-man rosters and on June 1 they're cut down to 23. Spain opens up play at the World Cup against Switzerland on June 16.

This is terrible news for Fabregas because he's been one of the stars of the EPL this season, scoring 19 goals in 36 matches.

Arsenal had a stirring comeback from down 2-0 to tie the first leg but it was costly as not only Fabregas but William Gallas (calf strain) and Andrey Arshavin (calf strain) are also expected to miss three weeks.