Arsenal stuns Barcelona, 2-1, in Champions League play

With the European Champions League final set to be played in London on May 28, three clubs from the English capital are intent on playing at Wembley Stadium that day.

The first is Tottenham Hotspur, which got one foot into the quarterfinals on Tuesday by upsetting AC Milan, 1-0, in Italy.

On Wednesday, in a memorable come-from-behind performance, Arsenal followed suit, shrugging off a halftime deficit to stun Barcelona, 2-1, at the Emirates Stadium.

Now — or at least next Tuesday — it is Chelsea’s turn to join its London neighbors when the Blues play FC Copenhagen in Denmark.

For the moment, though, the hour belongs to Arsenal, and also to Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine, which, like the Gunners, also came from a goal down on Wednesday night to beat AS Roma, 3-2, in Italy.

Shakhtar, with a handful of Brazilians leading the charge, gave up a goal to Simone Perotta near the half-hour mark, tied the score within 67 seconds on a goal by Jadson, then took a 3-1 lead into the Stadio Olimpico locker room at halftime on goals by Jadson’s fellow Brazilians, Douglas Costa and Luiz Adriano.

Roma already is stumbling out of contention in the Italian Serie A after back-to-back defeats by Inter Milan and Napoli and the players were booed off the field after 45 minutes. The team fought back in the second half and scored again when French international Jeremy Menez found the back of the net.

But the tying goal was beyond the ability of Coach Claudio Ranieri’s side. The two-game series also might be beyond the reach of the club, which reportedly is the target of an imminent $271-million takeover by American businessman Thomas Di Benedetto.

As English television match commentator Martin Tyler succinctly put it: “Rome wasn’t built in a day but Roma’s Champions League hopes might have been destroyed in a night.”

It will take a two-goal victory in Ukraine for the Italian team to advance to the quarterfinals, but Shakhtar Donetsk, coming off its winter break, will likely be an even fitter and faster team by the time the March 8 second leg rolls around at the Donbass Arena, where Shakhtar is unbeaten this season.

“Many people don’t believe it, but we are a good team,” said Shakhtar’s Romanian coach, Mircea Lucescu.

Ranieri, meanwhile, is not ready to concede.

“We must accept this bitter defeat, but we did everything we possibly could, so I am satisfied with the squad,” he said. “We were unable to equalize, but we will not give in. . . . Shakhtar have a very important future ahead of them . . . they pass it around like Barcelona.”

Barcelona, a Champions League winner as recently as 2009, also passed it around like Barcelona in the first 45 minutes in London and had Arsenal seemingly on the ropes.

Lionel Messi, the world’s top player, was a shade off his game, and missed a couple of scoring chances he would normally have put away. Still, the team’s ability to move the ball around quickly and its adept use of space left Arsenal chasing shadows and David Villa’s goal off a Messi pass gave Barcelona a 1-0 lead after 26 minutes.

The Spanish league leaders were still in front with only 13 minutes to play, but Arsenal dug deep, turned its game up a notch and scored twice within a six-minute spell to snatch the victory.

First, Dutch striker Robin van Persie somehow managed to fire a shot from a narrow angle between Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes and his near post in the 78th minute. Then, Russian midfielder Andrey Arshavin, sent on as a 68th-minute substitute, finished off a delightful move by curling in a goal in the 83rd minute to leave the visitors dumbfounded.

“It was one of those special nights and we needed to be a special team,” said Arsenal Coach Arsene Wenger. “The game promised a lot and it didn’t disappoint.

“We suffered at times but we never gave up and kept mentally strong. I feel when you play Barcelona you are always on the border of collapsing against them because you can be punished severely for mental mistakes.”

Barcelona Coach Josep “Pep” Guardiola remained upbeat and confident despite the loss.

“It was a fantastic game with chances for both teams,” he said. “Arsenal are always a good side — they are tough and strong. We dominated and more or less controlled the game. It’s a pity that we lost but these things happen in football.

“Now we have to think about turning this around in the second leg [on March 8] with the help of our supporters. I have a lot of faith in my players, so let’s see how we get on.”

The Champions League round of 16 continues next week with four more first-leg matches.

grahame.jones@latimes.com