Van Persie felt betrayed by "total joke" that led to angry Wenger accusing UEFA

On March 8 2011, Arsenal found themselves drawing 1-1 with Pep Guardiola’s imperious Barcelona side at the Nou Camp and potentially heading into the Champions League quarter final.

Three weeks earlier, Arsene Wenger’s side had stunned Europe by beating the Spanish giants 2-1 in the first leg on a famous night at the Emirates.

In the return match, Lionel Messi had predictably put Barca in front, but six minutes into the second half, Arsenal somehow turned the tie back in their favour when Samir Nasri’s corner was deflected into his own net by Sergio Busquets.

The Gunners had barely mustered an attack on the night but Barcelona were shell-shocked and Wenger’s team, now leading on aggregate, sensed an opportunity.

Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas, the product of Barca’s La Masia youth academy, and long-touted for a return to his former club showed no split loyalties by playing a typically delightful pass for the run of Robin van Persie just minutes after Arsenal’s goal.

The Dutchman unfortunately mistimed his run and the linesman raised his flag as the striker collected the ball.

As Swiss referee Massimo Busacca blew his whistle to confirm the offside, van Persie fired a right-footed shot towards goal that flew past Victor Valdes’ left-hand post.

To the surprise of everyone in the stadium, and watching at home, Busacca produced a yellow card for the Arsenal man.

Having already been booked, the striker was then shown a red and his evening had been brought to a premature end.

Van Persie’s expression was one of bemusement and anger as he stood with his arms outstretched wondering, like everybody else, what the hell had just happened.

"I think it was a total joke,” the striker told Sky afterwards, clearly incensed at the jobsworth official.

“How can I hear his whistle with 95,000 people jumping up? How can I hear it? Please explain that?”

Apparently, van Persie’s attempt to score was interpreted as dissent, leading to the fatal second booking.

Furious Arsenal fans calculated there was just barely a second between the whistle and the shot and given the striker’s momentum, it would have been impossible for him to stop his action even if he had heard Busacca.

“It makes it even worse because I could understand the ref’s view if it was four, five, six seconds and you chip the ball or something,” van Persie continued. “This way, one second between his whistle and the shot, is just a joke.”

Naturally, Barcelona were able to press home their advantage after van Persie’s dismissal with Xavi and a Messi penalty giving them a 4-3 aggregate lead.

Nicklas Bendtner was presented with a glorious late chance to level and send Arsenal through on away goals but almost unsurprisingly got tangled up in his own feet and the Gunners were out.

While there was of course frustration with the misfiring Danish striker for his miss, the real rage was reserved for the official and his controversial decision.

“We would have won that game.” raged Wenger afterwards.

"It's not a surprise the referee didn't book a single Barcelona player. I just spoke to [the] Uefa people. They are shocked as well. He killed a promising, fantastic football match.”

Like many, the Arsenal boss was at a loss as to why the official was so quick to dismiss his player.

“What for? If it's a bad tackle it's a second bookable offence but the way he did it it's embarrassing, if you love the game.

“If you have played football at a certain level you cannot understand that decision. It's impossible.”

Arsenal’s 2010/11 season is not one fans look back particularly fondly.

The team meandered to another fourth place finish in May and endured a sixth trophyless season as the much-discussed ‘drought’ started to become something of an albatross around their neck.

At one stage, the Gunners were actually the last team left in the hunt for an unlikely quadruple.

However, a shock League Cup final defeat to Birmingham, an FA Cup exit to Manchester United and a horrendous dip in form that saw Wenger’s side win just two of their last 11 league matches meant they almost missed out of the top four completely having spent much of the season pushing United for top spot.

They may not have been favourites for the competition but eliminating the Champions League favourites would have handed Arsenal a huge opportunity.

After those goals from van Persie and Andrey Arshavin handed Arsenal the advantage in the home leg, fans would have been forgiven for starting to dream. They couldn’t, could they?

As we know, thanks to an overzealous official, they didn’t. Ten years on, the feeling of injustice is still very raw.

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