The Arsenal midfielder Fran Merida was watching from the substitutes bench as Arsene Wenger’s team were mauled by Barcelona in the Nou Camp, and he was extremely impressed (just like everyone else) by the performance of Lionel Messi.

“For me he is the best player ever,” Merida said. “I didn’t get to see Maradona or Pele.

“When Messi is at his best he is the best player in the world. He showed that. I think you can stop him, but when he is at his best it is very difficult.

“I think Lionel Messi is a great player. We are disappointed because after the first goal I thought we could be a dangerous team here and could have got the win but they are just a great team and he is a great player as well.”

But he doesn’t think that the setback will affect Arsenal’s determination to win the Premier League, but he thinks that the team need to treat every game until the end of the season just like a cup final, because none of them are easy games.

“We still have five games to go and they are very important,” Merida continued. “We have ‘finals’ left and we want to win every game until the end of the season and then hopefully Chelsea and Man U will drop points. We want to be champions.

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“We do have tough games against Tottenham and Manchester City, but also Blackburn away and Wigan away are going to be tough.”

All Arsenal can do is keep winning their games, and hope that Chelsea and Man Utd drop some points along the way. Both those teams also have very “tougher” games than the Gunners from now until the the end of the season. I have a feeling there will be a few more twists and turns before anything is decided.

One thing though; Why has no-one mentioned what’s going on with Merida’s contract?

Theo Walcott says that last night's humbling to Barcelona will be a useful learning experience for Arsenal's players.

The European Champions outplayed Arsenal for the majority of both legs in this Champions League quarter-final tie, but Walcott was still disappointed at some of Arsenal's defending at the Nou Camp.

Walcott set up Nicklas Bendtner for the first goal of the night, but feels that, despite the undeniable class of Barca's Lionel Messi, the Arsenal defence made it too easy for the Argentine to score.

He told Arsenal TV Online: "It's disappointing, we had such a great start. It's one of those nights we need to learn from our mistakes, because we gifted them a couple of goals tonight.

"In the first leg they had quite a few chances but didn't take them, but tonight they had that cutting edge and this evening they took every single chance they had."

One positive from Arsenal's European exit is that they can now turn all their attention to winning their remaining fixtures in the Premier League.

Walcott knows that he and his team-mates don't have time to dwell on the result and will need to bounce back quickly, as they have big games in the league coming up.

He said: "We're out of the Champions League now so we've just got the one thing to focus on.

"There's no point dwelling on it now, we've got to move on and concentrate on the Premier League. Tottenham away from home is a very big game for us and we need to bounce back from this disappointment."