Barcelona, champions of Europe! Its 2-1 win over Arsenal in the 51st European club final, played in Paris yesterday, came in a tense, emotional, fascinating, nervous, dramatic game. Not a great game, though – it never became the super classic final that we’d been waiting for, the red-hot clash of two mighty attacking teams, the long-awaited head-to-head meeting of two of the world greatest players, Arsenal’s Thierry Henry and Barcelona’s Ronaldinho.

Some will blame the Norwegian referee Terje Hauge for that, for he was the key figure in the incident that shaped the game in the 18th minute. Barcelona, having survived an early Arsenal blitz, suddenly ripped the Arsenal defense to shreds. It started with Ronaldinho – who else? – who pushed a superb pass right down the middle, collected smoothly by Samuel Eto’o at the edge of the area. The play was shattered by the Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, storming outside his area, to take down Eto’o.

Everything happened in a couple of seconds: Down went Eto’o, the ball ran loose to Ludovic Giuly, who who stroked it firmly into the net. But Hauge was a fraction too early with his whistle for Lehman’s foul. The goal was called back, Lehman was (correctly) red-carded, and Barcelona got a free kick at the edge of the penalty area, which Ronaldinho promptly wasted.

Had Hauge waited, had he allowed Giuly’s goal to stand and only yellow carded Lehman, it would probably have been a better resolution of the incident. But Hauge had to act in a fraction of a second, and what he did was technically correct.

Maybe Barcelona now had an advantage – it had some 70 minutes to beat an Arsenal squad reduced to 10 men – but the score was still 0-0. Barcelona piled on the pressure, but now Arsenal knew exactly what it had to do: defend for all it was worth, which is what it does best, having not been scored on in 10 consecutive European games. Arsenal would rely on counterattacks for its attacking mode, and in Henry it had a uniquely dangerous and speedy player.

It got better, much better, for Arsenal in the 37th minute. Fullback Emmanuel Eboue was fouled, and from Henry’s nonchalantly struck free kick, Arsenal defender Sol Campbell – one of only two English players on the Arsenal team – leaped to head a playbook perfect goal.

No need to ask what happened next. Arsenal would defend its lead, Barcelona would dominate possession, relying on Ronaldinho to find a way through. Yes, it was fascinating stuff. But frustrating, too. Ronaldinho did not have one of his magical games – nor for that matter did Henry, who would miss two good chances to give Arsenal a vital second goal.

Deep into the second half, Arsenal was holding out well. Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard had abandoned any idea of caution, had withdrawn two defenders and sent on two attack-minded subs – the youngster Andres Iniesta and the Swedish veteran Henrik Larsson.

Arsenal, obviously, had the reverse idea. Off came attacking midfielder Cesc Fabregas (another star who shone only intermittently), replaced by defender Mathieu Flamini. If this was the battle of the subs, then Rijkaard was the winner over counterpart Arsene Wenger. Iniesta added a wonderfully smooth confidence to the Barcelona passing – his ball into the penalty area in the 76th minute was flicked on by Larsson to Eto’o, who beat the Arsenal substitute goalkeeper Almunia at his near post.

It was Larsson again in the 80th minute, this time with a short pass to defender Juliano Beletti, who rifled a shot through Almunia’s legs. In just four minutes, the game had been wrenched out of Arsenal’s grasp.

With about 15 minutes left and with a heavy rain now falling, the Arsenal defenders suddenly looked a tired, sorry group. Thunder and lightning added melodrama as Henry, now isolated up front, continually shouted at coach Wenger, evidently wanting him to bring on the speedy Spaniard Jose Reyes. But Wenger delayed his move for another five minutes, and Reyes hardly got a touch of the ball. The Henry scenario had an interest all of its own, for there have been strong rumors that he will shortly leave Arsenal to join … Barcelona.

It seems this European final gets less and less European with each passing year. Barcelona’s goals yesterday were scored by a Cameroonian and a Brazilian, while Arsenal fielded two Africans and a Brazilian – but only two Englishmen.

All in all, though, a satisfactory if not spectacular evening for the sport. We didn’t quite get what we expected from the stars. Henry shone in flashes, Ronaldinho quite definitely was not on song. But there will be a huge sigh of relief from all lovers of soccer skill, for both players emerged uninjured from the fray. In little more than two weeks they, along with 20 colleagues from the Arsenal and Barcelona starting lineups, will be playing in Germany in the big one, the World Cup.

pgardner@nysun.com