Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his 'impatient' side were punished by Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg encounter on Tuesday night.
The Gunners went toe-to-toe with the Catalan club for the majority of the game before Lionel Messi broke the deadlock in a swift counter-attack move in the 71st minute.
12 minutes later, the Argentine doubled his side's lead from the penalty spot, to leave Arsenal with a massive mountain to climb in the return bout at Camp Nou on March 16.
The Frenchman said: "Barcelona master all aspects of the game. As soon as you're in a bad position, one or two players can punish you.
"We had two or three opportunities to stop the first goal which we didn't do because I don't think we had the right response to the situation that our players faced.
"When your players put in the energy that they have put in tonight, it's very difficult to take because you want the players to be rewarded. We were impatient in the build-up, we lost balls that we usually don't and that's not because Barcelona forced us to do it, but just because we were not precise enough in our passing."
