The Catalans dominated for long spells at the Emirates but Villa's opener was cancelled out by second-half strikes from Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin to leave the tie in the balance ahead of the return at the Nou Camp.While he was quick to praise Arsenal, Villa felt Barca should have capitalised on their first-half superiority.
He said: "They (Arsenal) are a very good team. They've caught us on two counter-attacks and caused us a lot of damage. We were better but they hurt us on the counter.
"We didn't deserve this result. The scoreline, when we were 1-0 up, should have been bigger looking at the chances we had. But Arsenal are a great team and took advantage of their opportunity.
"(But) we have a team to get through. We will be ready for the day."
Goalkeeper Victor Valdes added: "We had the game under control, but they took advantage of their chances well.
"There's still the second leg and we have faith that things will turn out in our favour. It's possible in our stadium. We are confident that it will all work out for us."
