Soccer:Cesc Fabregas declared his nightmare return to the Nou Camp as "one of the worst moments of my life" and accepted "full blame" for Arsenal's Champions League exit at the hands of Barcelona.
The Gunners had Robin van Persie controversially sent off as they were knocked out of Europe by the Spanish giants for the second successive season, with a 3-1 reverse meaning a 4-3 aggregate exit.
The Dutchman was a shock inclusion for Arsenal, who led 2-1 from the first leg, having recovered quicker than expected from the knee injury he sustained in the Carling Cup final.
However, moments after an own goal from Sergio Busquets had cancelled out Lionel Messi's fine opener following a terrible mistake by Fabregas, van Persie was dismissed by Swiss referee Massimo Busacca.
The Dutchman had already been booked in the first half and was shown a second yellow card for lashing the ball towards goal after a marginal offside call which the Arsenal striker claimed he could not hear.
Barcelona took full advantage, with Xavi and then Messi's penalty putting the tie beyond Arsene Wenger's men, who were left to reflect on what might have been and must now regroup for Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final at Barclays Premier League title rivals Manchester United.
Fabregas, returning to his boyhood club for the first time, had earlier inexplicably tried to backheel the ball to Jack Wilshere on the edge the Arsenal penalty area, but gave it straight to Andres Iniesta - who set up Messi to put Barcelona ahead in first-half stoppage time.
The Spain World Cup winner, substituted with 12 minutes remaining, was left bitterly disappointed by his own contribution after coming back from a hamstring injury, .
"I take full blame for the result tonight," Fabregas said on his Twitter account. "One of the worst moments of my life. I apologise."
Xavi claims Barca were never going to fail to progress, given he approach of both teams.
"We were superior to them from start to finish," Xavi told the Uefa website. "We imposed our football, we remained totally loyal to our manner of playing - we demonstrated our personality.
"Arsenal barely had a shot on goal and their only goal was scored by our player. They didn't want the ball and our tempo of play and our intensity was always going to see us through."
Teammate Dani Alves paid tribute to Lionel Messi, who scored two goals and was excellent throughout the game.
"Perhaps this was our most difficult game so far in the Champions League this season but we have Messi and he's on a superior level to anyone else," Alves told UEFA.com. "He's our genius, the guy who pulls us through tough games and he's done it again. He wasn't alone, we all know that Messi was accompanied by a great team tonight but he's the perfect complement to our work."
