The German goalkeeper pulled off a fine save to deny the striker just moments before Lionel Messi tucked in the opening goal of the tie and Giroud feels it was a crucial moment
Olivier Giroud feels Marc-Andre ter Stegen's save to keep out his header just seconds before Lionel Messi's opening goal could be the crucial moment in Arsenal's Champions League tie with Barcelona.
Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen got down low to deny Giroud with 20 minutes remaining of the last-16 first leg at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Less than a minute later, reigning champions Barca were a goal to the good after a counter-attack involving Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez and Neymar was finished by Messi.
The Argentina star added a second from the penalty spot to put Barca in command ahead of the second leg at Camp Nou on March 16.
And Giroud feels that the game would have gone completely different had Ter Stegen not kept out his solid effort.
"It's possibly the turning point," he told Arsenal Player. "I had a duel with the defender and I think that I headed the ball well but the keeper did very well.
"We were not cautious enough of their counter-attack, which is a model counter-attack, and then they finished it well. We couldn't score in the first half after we played well on the counter-attack and were dangerous.
"We couldn't finish our hard work and it's disappointing because at the end of the day we're 2-0 down and our chances of qualifying are very small. There's a lot of disappointment.
"I said before the game that we needed to be cautious if we could not win the game and not concede goals to keep our chances high for the second leg.
"In Barcelona it is very, very difficult to win, so we can have regrets after the first leg because we didn't finish our counter-attacks."
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