The only time Chelsea had to play second fiddle against Barcelona was when they were reduced to 10 men at Stamford Bridge? Wrong.

Over the two games, Barcelona proved themselves to be the better team with the better footballers, and for me they were comfortable and fully in control last Tuesday.

Chelsea came away from the Nou Camp with a draw which shows they are in no way inferior to Barcelona?

Wrong again. To begin with, Barcelona didn't have to win to advance to the quarterfinals, and Chelsea's penalty . . . which should never have been awarded in the first place . . . came much too late in the game to make a difference.

By being much better prepared than last year, and by using the ball in a more intelligent way than Chelsea, the result was a victory for much of what is right about the game over much of what is wrong.

At the moment, Chelsea appear to be ready to buy success at any price, and their mission is driven by a manager with an extraordinary ego. Equally, the hype surrounding players such as Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben and Joe Cole is just that.

Their organisation is impressive, and as far as the Premiership goes, they are highly effective, but their domestic dominance is based on physical strength and hard work. It's more mechanical than anything else. On the majority of occasions in the Champions League, class wins the day, and that's why Barcelona are through to the quarter-finals, and why Chelsea are out.

I see Damien Duff as a world-class player, but from the evidence of last week he's playing in a system that appears to be stifling his individual talent. As Chelsea's inability to come out and to open up an opposing defence was exposed, Duff and several of his teammates looked unsure of exactly what they were supposed to be doing.

Of course, there are great managers, good managers and bad managers, but ultimately the game is about players. Mourinho did an outstanding job at Porto, but it's as if he has deluded himself into thinking that he's the beall and end-all at Chelsea, that somehow he makes the difference.

I reckon there are probably 10 coaches in Europe . . . Fabio Capello, Alex Ferguson, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Arsene Wenger and Frank Rijkaard would certainly be among them . . . who could do a better job given the same resources as Mourinho. I also believe they would win with more style and more elegance.

Many Chelsea supporters feel duty-bound to defend their manager claiming that all the criticism levelled at him stems as much from jealously as anything else, however, deep in their hearts, I'm convinced that a lot of them are a bit embarrassed by this guy.

The results proved to be mixed for Mourinho's rivals with Wenger getting a badlyneeded shot in the arm while Liverpool's tame exit will only increase the speculation regarding the future of Rafael Benitez. I'm not sure you could say that Arsenal's victory was a coming of age for Cesc Fabregas, Philippe Senderos, Jose Reyes, Alexander Hleb and Emmanuel Eboue, but there were obvious signs during the two games against Madrid that Wenger's strategy of giving his younger players a chance has begun to pay off.

While Ferguson rebuilt at Manchester United during the 1990s, he still managed to carry on winning, but the competition at the top of the Premiership was nothing like as tough as it is now. If inexperience as well as a long injury list have contributed to Arsenal's disappointing domestic form, it's possible now that the win over Madrid will spur them on to take the vital fourth place in the league.

Not so long ago, it seemed that Chelsea were strong enough to go on and win the Champions League, it seemed that Liverpool would get the better of Benfica to reach the quarter-finals and it seemed that having been pitted against Madrid, Arsenal were on the way out. In the space of a fortnight, the season has changed radically for all three clubs.

With the benefit of hindsight, Real Madrid were a pretty good draw for Arsenal in that their reputation was far greater than their current ability. On the basis of the two games, they're suffering from a chronic lack of pace, and they've no real fire in their bellies.

By the extremely high standards they've set for themselves in the past, players like Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos are finished. All three still have sharp football brains, but they're not up to it physically. I would also go as far as to include David Beckham in that group. He lacks pace as well, and this summer's World Cup finals is likely to be the last time we'll see him competing at the very top level.

So, the result was due to a combination of Madrid's decline and the growing confidence of Arsenal's new guard. Fabregas was superb in both legs, and I thought Hleb, who has been inconsistent this season, had by far his best game for the club last Wednesday.

At the start of my time at Juventus, the team wasn't playing that well and there were doubts voiced over my ability, but then we came up against Inter Milan and I scored a goal, made another and that was that, I had established myself. It's possible now that Hleb's performance at Highbury could kick-start his career.

As for the quarter-final draw against Juventus, and the return of Patrick Vieira to Highbury, Arsenal cannot be seen as favourites. Obviously, it would have been better to have come up against Villarreal or Benfica, but the club has a decent history against Juventus and the Italians haven't been impressive in Europe this season. Also the expectation in the Premiership has weighed heavily on Arsenal's youngsters whereas they revelled in the atmosphere against Madrid, so I'm hoping it could be the same against Juve.

Regarding Thierry Henry, you would hope that the emergence of the younger players will be a factor in his decision to sign another contract. It's doubtful if he would consider a move to Madrid now, and I'm not sure if Barcelona would put him on their shopping list with the players they have at the moment, so with the rebuilding process at Arsenal a season further down the road, with the likes of Fabregas showing so much promise, and with the possibility of one or two new signings in the summer, he might just stay.

In fact, it could be that there's a better chance of Henry staying in England than Benitez. He has won the Champions League, made Liverpool more competitive in the Premiership without any hope that they could win the title, and now after limping out of Europe, it seems as if he has hit the wall.

The failure to score during both games against Benfica summed up Liverpool's problem. Peter Crouch is honest but limited, Fernando Morientes is struggling and Robbie Fowler is a striker past his prime. Compare that against Chelsea's strength in depth, and the x-factor represented by Wayne Rooney and Henry at United and Arsenal respectively, and it's obvious that as things stand, Liverpool are treading water. In short, if Benitez is not given more money to improve his squad, then he might well move on.

Meanwhile, Barcelona have had a plum draw in the last eight and they'll come through against Benfica, AC Milan will have too much for Lyon although that could be a fascinating tie, and I expect Inter Milan to see off Ajax and then to beat Villarreal.

Inconsistent Arsenal are still in contention, whereas dominant Chelsea and Mourinho are out.

That's football.