LONDON, Feb 18 — The extraordinary saga of Arsenal's last three games against Barcelona makes predicting the fourth — their Champions League last 16 second leg at the Nou Camp on March 8 — an exercise in futility.

Wednesday night's amazing last 11 minutes encapsulated all that had gone before as the Londoners trailed to David Villa's early goal and looked fortunate to be escaping with just a 1-0 defeat.

Like a boxer entering the 11th round behind on points, Arsenal landed an equalising punch almost out of nowhere when Robin van Persie fired the ball past Victor Valdes at his near post.

Buoyed by a crowd previously hypnotized into silence by Barcelona's mesmeric passing suddenly screaming feverishly, they then landed the knockout blow with Andrey Arshavin's assured finish to a brilliantly executed 80-metre counterattack.

The victory showed Arsenal that even the toughest nut in world football has a glass chin, and they now travel to Spain with belief coursing through their veins.

"We are not favourites, and I still believe they are the best team in the world, but we know we can beat them — we didn't know that last year," manager Arsene Wenger said after one of the proudest nights of his distinguished career.

"I'm very proud for Arsenal Football Club tonight because everybody urged us to play differently to our nature. We can be proud of the result, but more than pride, it can strengthen the belief in our philosophy."

A year ago, when the teams met at the Emirates in the quarter-finals, Barcelona were arguably even more dominant in the first half, yet failed to score.

They did race to a 2-0 lead early in the second half but, just as on Wednesday, they sat back to admire their own handiwork and allowed Arsenal to scramble a 2-2 draw.

After 20 minutes of the second leg, having been given the runaround for the best part of 110 minutes of action, Arsenal were, against all logic, actually leading the tie after Nicklas Bendtner put them ahead in Spain.

For all the marvellous inter-play of a side who provide the bulk of Spain's World Cup-winning team, it fell to Argentine striker Lionel Messi to turn the contest with a brilliant night of individual class as he rattled in four goals to secure a 6-3 aggregate win.

Arsenal are unlikely to implode again as they did then, and Wednesday's experience of being largely out-passed on their own ground yet still winning puts them in a healthy state of mind for the second leg.

Barcelona's ice-cool coach Pep Guardiola did not seem overly concerned after the game but, having been dumped out by Inter Milan last season, when his team had seemed nailed on for the title, Arsenal have at least succeeded in sowing another seed of doubt. — Reuters

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida, Feb 18 — Ten years after Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash at the Daytona 500, the shadow of "The Intimidator" continues to loom large at Nascar.

Beloved by most, reviled by others, Nascar sorely misses the seven-time series champion whose aggressive style of racing captivated legions of stock car fans.

Earnhardt crashed on the last lap of the circuit's biggest race, careening into the wall in a wreck so mild by Nascar standards that few realised it would result in a fatal injury.

"He was an icon," Richard Childress, owner of Earnhardt's black No. 3 Chevrolet, told Reuters.

"He helped build the sport and carried it to the level it was. The biggest thing, if you loved him or hated him, you always watched him to see what he was doing on the race track."

When Earnhardt died in 2001 at the age of 49, Nascar lost its bridge between the old-style, Southern fan base and the nation's more affluent race watchers.

Childress, however, said Earnhardt "still has that following".

"He was an everyday man," he said. "He could relate. The truck drivers, the mill worker, or the CEO of major corporations knew Dale and what he meant to the sport."

His popularity lives on today through his son Dale Earnhardt Jr, who remains Nascar's most popular driver despite not visiting Victory Lane since 2008.

On the day Earnhardt died, Michael Waltrip won the Daytona 500 and was followed by his teammate Earnhardt J., who ultimately won the prestigious race in 2004.

Earnhardt's passing, the fourth Nascar driver to die within a one-year period, was a catalyst for safety measures such as a new chassis, driver's head and neck restraints, and energy-absorbing walls.

In 2002 the track erected a nine-foot, 1,200-pound statue of Earnhardt with left fist pumping in the air and the trophy he won from his 1998 Daytona 500 triumph on his right arm.

Many tributes to the late driver are planned for Sunday's Great American Race, including the painting of No. 3 on the Daytona International Speedway infield.

Childress will not dwell on the tragic event of 10 years ago, preferring to celebrate the memory of the native of Kannapolis, North Carolina.

"It's a celebration of his life," he said, his voice quivering. "It's been 10 years. It doesn't seem like it's been 10 years.

"There isn't a day hardly passes that you don't think about him, but we're here to talk about the good things." — Reuters