Arsene Wenger has never hid his admiration for Barcelona. "They have players who transform normal life into art," he said after Arsenal went out to Barca in last year's Champions League. And for years, no team tried so desperately to mimic the Blaugrana more than Arsenal in their obsession with ball retention, quick one-touch passing and nimble-footed Smurf-like midfielders. Sure, the Gunners were just the bargain-basement facsimile, but they were still the best Barca tribute band in Europe.
So proficient in the pyrotechnics of tiki-taka did Arsenal become that Barcelona began to regard it as something of a feeder club.