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If only Gareth Barry had got that close to Mesut Ozil in Bloemfontein three years ago.

Amid all the nostalgia emanating from South Africa, in the Rainbow Nation’s hour of mourning , Barry’s fierce challenge on Ozil – at the expense of a yellow card – would normally warrant only a footnote.

On the weekend of an unkind World Cup draw for England, it looked as if Ozil would have the last word and send Arsenal seven points clear.

from a feisty, committed display in which Ross Barkley pulled the strings, Barry pulled his weight and manager Roberto Martinez pulled a fast one – by sending on wonderkid Gerard Deulofeu to save the day.

On this evidence, Merseyside will be back in the Champions League next season – and it won’t necessarily be Liverpool getting their passports stamped.

“We didn’t just frustrate Arsenal, we looked like the home team, which is remarkable,” drooled Martinez. “Not many teams come to the Emirates and control the game the way we did.

“I couldn’t be happier with the week we’ve had – we went to Old Trafford and won for the first time in more than 20 years, then we came here and played even better.

“It means we are finally getting over the mental block of going to teams who are challenging for the title and being able to impose ourselves.

“Although it is too early to talk about finishing in the top four this season, this is a club which has won the title nine times, so we should be looking to play Champions League football.”

Barkley, whose quick feet twinkled like the fairy lights on a Norwegian pine, was outstanding in front of watching England coach Roy Hodgson.

Gary Lineker, Match of the Day’s resident bard, enthused on Twitter: “Barkley has a bit of Gazza about him. Similar stature, technique, confidence, ability to glide past opponents and a certain naivety.”

With Barry dropping anchor like a warship, and Deulofeu’s equaliser soaring past Wojciech Szczesny like a warhead, Barkley’s total eclipse of Jack Wilshere in the battle of precocious England midfielders would not have been lost on Hodgson.

Our Roy from Brazil, hot-foot from the airport on his retreat from Rio, will be glad he didn’t waste any time in the Amazon jungle inspecting the venue for his thankless World Cup opener against Italy.

The only decent result to come out of the jungle at the weekend was Joey Essex and a model being voted off I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! – probably on the pretext that they are not celebrities and should never have been there in the first place.