Barcelona Doesn’t Waste Advantage Over Arsenal

Spain heads into the World Cup with the biggest club title in European soccer.

Samuel Eto’o and second-half substitute Juliano Belletti scored in the last 15 minutes and Barcelona, playing with a man advantage for most of the game, rallied past Arsenal, 2-1, Wednesday in the final of the European Champions League.

“There are not enough words to describe how I feel,” Eto’o said. “But you can’t say it was my night -- it was Barcelona’s night.”

Barcelona, whose only previous Champions title came in 1992, played with a man advantage after goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was ejected in the 20th minute for taking down Eto’o just outside the penalty area.

But the Gunners took a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute when Sol Campbell headed in Thierry Henry’s free kick.

Eto’o, a Cameroon star who has won Africa’s player-of-the-year award for three consecutive years, said Barcelona remembered how Liverpool overcame a three-goal deficit to win last year’s final against AC Milan.

“Having seen what Liverpool did, we adopted the Liverpool spirit. We know you can’t accept anything until the final whistle has blown,” Eto’o said.

Arsenal had gone a Champions League-record 10 consecutive games without giving up a goal. Eto’o ended the streak in the 76th minute, taking a through ball from substitute Henrik Larsson and beating backup goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

Gunners Coach Arsene Wenger claimed Eto’o was offside.

“It’s difficult to accept losing the game on a poor decision,” Wenger said. “That goal was offside and it was proven on television. At this level, we should not accept this and we have to do something about it.”

Belletti, a defender who entered in the 71st minute, got the go-ahead goal in the 81st minute, taking a pass from Larsson and sending a low cross in front that went into the net off Almunia.

“Scoring a goal in the Champions League is very difficult for a fullback,” Belletti said. “I thought this afternoon that perhaps I would have played, but I knew it was difficult.

“The Champions League is for all the people who don’t appear in the press. It’s for everyone.”

Henry nearly scored twice for Arsenal in the first three minutes, but goalkeeper Victor Valdes blocked his shot, then fisted away a shot from 20 yards.

Barcelona thought it had taken the lead in the 18th minute when Ronaldinho fed Eto’o, Lehmann fouled the forward and the ball rolled to Ludovic Giuly, who shot it into an empty net. But Norwegian referee Terje Hauge already had blown his whistle for a foul. Almunia came in to play goalkeeper, replacing midfielder Robert Pires.

“We could have won it. This is hard for us,” Arsenal’s Fredrik Ljungberg said. “They are a great side, but I felt we controlled it quite well. Unfortunately, they got the goals.”