Welbeck rues Arsenal misses against Barcelona

Danny Welbeck urged Arsenal to learn from their Champions League exit as Barcelona forward trio Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi gave Arsene Wenger’s men a lesson in clinical finishing.

Neymar opened the scoring on Wednesday, building on a 2-0 aggregate lead established during the first leg by Messi.

Mohamed Elneny netted his first Arsenal goal to equalise six minutes into the second period but an acrobatic Suarez volley and a trademark dinked finish from Messi made it 3-1 on the night for Luis Enrique’s team, who were often short of their sublime best in chalking up a 38th game unbeaten in all competitions.

Welbeck was among the culprits as Arsenal passed up a number of presentable chances in either half and the England forward struggled to look towards plenty of positives for the visitors that were undermined by a lack of cutting edge

“We had a plan to try and get through to the next round,” he told BT Sport after Arsenal departed in the round of 16 for a sixth consecutive season.

“It’s a difficult occasion for us but unfortunately we couldn’t get through.

“We had a couple of opportunities where we should have done better with it and with their quality that they’ve got they’re very clinical. There’s a lot to be learned.

“[Camp Nou] is a place where you want to leave your mark and there were certain occasions where we could have done things better. It’s disappointing.”