Messi 4 Arsenal 1 (Barça win 6-3 on aggregate)
Tuesday, 06 April 10, 10:41 AM · Comments (35)
Only Inter Milan now stand between Barça and a place in the so-desired Champions League Final in Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium on May 22. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal gave us an early shock tonight when Nicklas Bendtner opened the scoring, but Barça hit back thanks to an extraordinary Leo Messi who scored a magnificent four goals in a performance that will be remembered for many years by those fortunate enough to witness it.
Messi has scored four hat-tricks in the last three months, he is top scorer in the Champions League with 8 goals and also top scorer in La Liga with 26 goals, if you add the goals he’s scored in the other competitions he now has an incredible total of 39 goals this season. Apart from this we are fortunate enough to also enjoy his incredible football, when he gets the ball it doesn’t matter how many defenders stand in his way as he is capable of dribbling past the lot. People can talk about Pele and Maradona, but I have never seen a player capable of doing what our Messiah does.
Before the game both coaches had talked about the importance of keeping the ball, and things were looking good in the first 15 minutes as we had 73% of the possession, Xavi, Messi, Pedro and Messi again all had attempts on goal but none of the shots were on target. Then after 18 minutes Milito was robbed of the ball on the half way line, it looked like a foul by Diaby but the ref waved play on and Diaby found Walcott who was played onside by Marquez and suddenly we were wide open at the back, Walcott played the ball in low to Bendtner who resisted a challenge from Alves to get a shot in which Valdés saved well but the ball went straight back to Bendtner who fired home with his second attempt.
It was the first time in the tie that Arsenal had been in front and it was hard to believe after the dominance we had shown up till then. However, it took only three minutes to pull the goal back, Messi tried to slip a pass through to Xavi, the defence cut the pass out but only succeeded in giving the ball back to Messi who controlled the ball before firing a tremendous shot into the top corner from 20 yards.
It was just the beginning of the Messi show, in the 32nd minute Milito sent a long clearance out of defence which Messi controlled brilliantly on the right touchline before setting off again towards goal, he turned Sylvestre inside out but this time his final shot could only find the side netting. Then in the 37th minute Messi played a ball inside the full back to Abidal - just as he’d done twice against Athletic Bilbao – Abidal’s cross was cut out but not cleared and Pedro recovered the ball to lay it back to Messi who skipped past Sylvestre before shooting over Almunia into the net.
When Messi is on a roll there is little the opponent can do, five minutes later Keita was quick to spot Messi’s run and he played him in past the defence with an intelligent header from inside his own half, Messi galloped away with electric speed and as Almunia came out to close him down Messi played a delightful scooped chip over the Arsenal keeper to complete a first half hat-trick. Two minutes later Messi had another run at goal but for once his touch let him down allowing the defender the chance to get across to intercept.
With the two-goal advantage we played a more cagey game in the second half. Arsenal gained more possession and came into our half much more. Abidal came off injured, and will now be out for ten days, and Toure came on for Bojan to bolster the midfield, but it seemed a bit dangerous as Arsenal began to create the odd chance. In the 60th minute Milito had to make an excellent last-ditch tackle to deny Bendtner a chance, and soon after Rosicky had a shot from just outside the area but it went well wide.
We were practically non-existent in attack until the quick-thinking Messi sent Pedro through with a quickly taken free kick but Pedro’s chip over Almunia went wide of the far post. However, it was all about playing it safe and keeping arsenal out, and in the second half Marquez and particularly Milito were very solid to keep tracks on Bendtner. The Arsenal striker and Walcott both hit the post but neither would have counted as the linesman had given offside.
As Arsenal pushed men forward we began to find spaces behind them and as we neared the end Maxwell forced a save from Almunia, before Messi completed his fantastic performance with a fourth goal after another mazy run into the area, Almunia saved Messi’s first shot but our maestro fired home the rebound through the keeper’s legs.
I have to admit I wasn’t happy with the way we played in the second half and Arsenal remained in the game until Messi’s fourth goal. If they had scored one to bring it back to 3-2 we would have suffered a lot at the end and I felt we should have been looking for a fourth goal earlier. However, Arsenal failed to take any of the few second half chances they had and we were clear winners at the end. It was the deserved result after the two games as we demonstrated that we are in a different class to the Londoners. As a team we didn’t play nearly as well as we had in the first leg, but it didn’t matter because Messi did play a lot better than he did at the Emirates. And when Messi plays like this he is, as Arsene Wenger said after the match, like a "playstation".
We were privileged to see such a performance and we are privileged to have such an astonishing player. He is only 22-years-old and who knows what we will see from Messi in the future. Nothing is sure in football so we better make sure we enjoy it when it lasts. We now face Inter Milan in the semi-finals on the 20th April in Italy and 28th April at Camp Nou. Jose Mourinho will no doubt have some sleepless nights trying to work out how to stop Messi. That’s a tie to look forward to but now it is time to switch our attention back to La Liga and our visit to the Bernabeu on Saturday. Hopefully, it will not be our last visit there this season.
Barça: (4-2-3-1) Valdés 6.5; Alves 6.5, Marquez 6.5, Milito 7.5, Abidal 7 (Maxwell m53, 7); Xavi 7.5, Busquets 7; Pedro 6 (Iniesta m86, --), Messi 10, Keita 6.5; Bojan 7(Toure m56, 6).
Arsenal: (4-3-3) Almunia; Sagna, Vermaelen, Sylvestre (Eboue m64), Clichy; Denilson, Nasri, Diaby; Walcott, Bendtner, Rosicky (Eduardo m73).
Goals: m18 Bendtner 0-1, m21 Messi 1-1, m37 Messi 2-1, m42 Messi 3-1, m88 Messi (who else?) 4-1
Yellow cards: m30 Denilson, m44 Rosicky, m67 Eboue
Attendance: 93,330
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35 Comments · Add yours
Comment from an Arsenal fan on the BBC site -
"I've been an Arsenal fan for 20 years and I've never felt as comprehensively outplayed by a team in my life."
I am soo happy messi got to put on one of these huge performances in europe, against a top side .. for all to see ...
He was amazing .. incredible experience .. his moves are flashing through my mind right now .. how can one player do so much ..
Just another historic game by Messi. However, we could have finished the game in the beginning of the second half and cut off Arsenal's ray of hope.
The team overall played really well. It was very unfortunate to see Abidal sustain a new injury which will be very effective on Saturday's El Classico. Pep and the team need to keep up this spirit.
Thanks for your efforts Nic
Finally, I quote Fran Trevor "Messi is such an amazing player that he would make his team mates look average!"
BUT THEY ARE NOT HE IS JUST ON ANOTHER LEVEL!
well done barca !! but as nic pointed out, we had a bad second half.. !! and just a negative comment frm me regarding messi
is he selfish? i hv noticed couple of times he cud hv passed on to his teammates.. !!
No El Classico.. !! hope Pep wud keep the motivation levels high..
Forca barca
the formation was changed to get messi more involved, so its unfair to hint that he is selfish, seems like he is being told to step up at times. In Big games big players want the ball.
GREAT stuff. XAVI is from another planet. he is just great. Arsenal were lucky to not meet a fit iniesta. BRING ON MADRID
Lovely write up Nic.
Great to see that the English press cannot ignore our team and Leo's singular abilities - having just scanned most of the papers, nearly every publication is using the term genius, greatest in the world by some distance (as Wenger conceded), and just generally gob-smacked.
And to think, for us watching every Barca game, whilst it was a big performance (and four goals) from our Leo, the goals weren't nearly as sublime as his recent run of hatricks!
(But cometh the hour, must cometh the man and claims to greatness must be staked on a big stage.)
My favourite English press article so far:
LINK
Particularly the paragraph that begins and ends: "The ferocity of Messi's shot...trudge back."
Xavi was also phenomenal today but a real shame about Abidal.
Have some other thoughts but won't enter into the negative discussion yet.
Just a lovely night.
SOrry - to clarify, "shame about Abidal" relates to his injury, not his performance, which I thought was really good as he's coming back from injury.
I have been saying over and over to anyone who will listen; that we are watching the player that in the future people will talk about- "remember the greatest player ever..." Messi.
AND we'll be able to respond- yes I watched him play every game! How amazing is that and how lucky are we?
And yet, as someone else already mentioned- his teammates are not average! This is the world's greatest team with the world's greatest player on it. Kinda nice combination.
Anyway, i'm excited. the game speaks for itself!
but i have to say as well... i was right! marquez did come good, we won 4-1 and i predicted bojan would start a week ago! Lon-a, you're right, I should have made a trip to vegas!
(ok i'll be humble from here on out cuz that was probably just lucky)
Visca Barca!
this shows all the cr9 fans that he is not even close to MESSI level .....im surprised that marquez and milito played good .......im sure that barcelona will win the UCL again
Barca - MORE THAN 'JUST' A CLUB
MESSIah - MORE THAN JUST A PLAYER
Yes, now's a moment of joy, we file out errors later and Thanx 2 u guys 4 appreciating our living heroes.
Feelings for Abidal, soonest recovery.
Madridstas? Bring dem. Sad 4 dem like last season
he id messi.....
I agree with Nick, it is a complete privilege to see Messi's performance and have such kind of fantastic player in team. He was incredible.
a great strategy by guardiola. they learnt from past game, having defensive play in the second half, even it is a risky play. but , the arsenal's counter attack comes to nothing after the second half. great work Barca!!!
Apologies for the dumbass comment #10, left earlier by some brainless idiot. It has now been deleted.
I think Arsenal's goal should have been called offside two times. The two passes that was made I think where offside. don't you agree ? Messi tonight proved why he is really the best. I don't know how CR was ever crowed the best, the only thing this guy has more than his ego is his big mouth I truly don't understand how people can even compare him to MESSI. Hopefully now Marcelo will get out saying "WE WILL WIN BARCELONAAA" and we might see another amazing performance like last year on our hands. I love that guy every time he opens his mouth we win big time.
Nic,
I thought a 7.5 for Xavi is bit unfair. I thought he really played well. He may not have created huge opportunities, but if you look at the match he was playing a bit deep all the time protecting our defense. The way he hold on to possession is quite remarkable. If we had Iniesta also fit for this match Arsenal wouldn't have seen any ball. I thought there was a bit of reluctance to attack in both halves, especially in second half. If Diaby had not made the mistake in 20th minute we would have been in trouble. I loved Bojan today, the way he was winning possession and distributing balls. He is back with confidence and Guardiola has to give him more chances in coming games. He has proved he can withstand pressure.
I know this is not fair, but we seemed to average more than three goals per match whenever Ibra is not playing.
Varughese - Yeah, I regret not giving Xavi a higher mark he had a great game, I was just so blown away by Messi it was hard for me to think about the other players.
So it all works out good in the end, the suspensions to Pique and Puyol allowed them a much needed break, and they'll come back raring for Madrid.
I'm so glad that Marquez played alright, it's good that he got a game so that he could improves on his match fitness for the remainder of the season. Abidal was having such a good game and it's a shame to see him injured. also it was good to gives players with less minutes time on the pitch so as to improve their match fitness.
I am so thankful that Messi is on our team, there are no words left to describe his performances. He was just exquisite. guys we are indeed priviliged to be watching his genius week in week out.
I must say that Inter look a totally different team than the one we met in the group stages, setting up for another intriguing encounter.
But for now it's Madrid, bring them on...
another great thing from the game is that none of our players picked up yellow cards, so we will be at full strength fo Inter.
I could be wrong but I think Messi is trying to make a statement . With all the talk the last couple of years about who the best player in the world is ; is it Messi ? Is it Ronaldo ( not the real one ) ? Now that he is in La Liga what is a better time to prove once and for all who the best player in the world is . Messi is basically out to win as many titles as possible and leave the Diving One with as few as possible or preferably NO titles of any sort . Messi is on pace to beat the 42(or 43) goals scored by the former Manchester United and now Real Madrid player . Barça are in great form and are odds on favourite to repeat as CL champions . Messi can help Barça win el clasico and a step closer to repeat as La Liga champions . Messi may not look like a man on mission but he is about to shut all those critics up . I am referring specifically to the biased English press . I am sure no matter how well Messi and Barça do this season it is very unlikely they will receive the recognition and respect they deserve . It will always be about how their teams LOST rather than Barça won . I watched a clip from an Arsene Wenger( not to be confused with a gracious winner or loser ) interview in which he pointed out to how LUCKY Barça was and how UNLUCKY Arsenal was . Not a complimentary word of any kind about Barça . Bring on Madrid !!
Amazing team performance again today, did what they had to do, and let Messi run the show. Brilliant.
Am disappointed with Pedro and Keita today - both were very ordinary - as was Toure when he came on sadly.
Thought that Rafa played well enough, and even out did Gabi down back actually, who's distribution was quite shocking.
Nic - whats the latest on Abidal?
Busquets did a good role today, but again his consistent dragging of a foot to draw fouls can be quite poor at times.
First four goals (3-1) . Notice how the English commentators were gloating when Arsenal scored first . Of course , they stressed unashamed that the goal was clearly on side . Later Messi made them eat crap .
LINK
The final nail in the coffin . Messi's fourth goal .
LINK
the guy who was doing colour commentary( thats on the english commentary) was clearly biased in his support for arsenal, i really found it annoying. he was honest to admit how great barca and messi are though.
That commentator in FCB-Holland's link is one of the most biased I've heard! Luckily Messi's goal shut him up before he gloated some more.
Now the English papers/tabloids will have to admit to Messi's superiority, and hopefully we won't have to put up with all the talk about Rooney being better than our Messiah!
VISCA PEP y VISCA EL BARCA!
You guys care too much what the English press thinks I mean who cares if they acknowledge Messi why do Barcelona or Messi need their approval.
I mean anybody who pays attention to football and puts their bias aside will tell you there never was a competition between the 2 players.
Messi pretty much can play anywhere in midfield or attack and decide the outcome of a game.
He is unbelievable, What I loved apart from his performance was the pictures of him going up to the ref and asking for the match ball after the game and then holding onto it and bouncing it around. It just showed how much he loved playing and that he is still just like a kid playing in the park on a Sunday but instead of playing in a park he is making a mockery of top teams in the quarter finals of the best club competition in the world.
He really is a class act
ALL HAIL MESSI!!!!
Hail Messi? People over doing it.
He's an exceptionally gifted player and you got to Thank God he plays for Barcelona. Why are people surprised though?
Have people not followed Barca last year or the season before that.
Him scoring those goals I wasn't even excited or anything really it's just what he does but when Ibra scored his 2 at the Emirates my expression was "damn"
I can't really say the team played that well though and outside of Keita giving that excellent assist I thought he was very poor not productive and just a waste in my humble opinion.
If Messi was injured or had an off day last night then it would have been a problem.....
The whole football world is examining him right now ..
when is the last time you saw someone score 4 goals in a european quarterfinal .. 4 of the best looking goals and different types .. no tapins ..
ye we see class from him often in la liga but this is new opposition, different mentality, when he does this in europe it shows he is growing.
Also it is important for the best player in the world to come big when he is needed .. maybee these experiences will propel him in WC2010 !!
Though i am sure another level of growth would be for him to come big in a game like last years semifinal when he is being pushed and crowded off the ball
Manchester are out
I guess if EPL was ever better than other leagues by having 3 out of 4 semifinalists, then by having 0 representatives this year, EPL is worse than La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1.
Ha.
I dont think the second half was bad. I got really excited when Toure and Iniesta were on. That is when we started moving the ball around with quick consequtive one touch football!
As soon as the ball appeared to move like a pinball on my tv, I was reminded of the 2-6 murking of the merengues last season.
That is exactly how Barcelona conducted the ball movement. Quick, one touch passes. The ball moved so quickly, the Arsenal players had no clue what was going on.
I really think that was Pep's prelude to the up-coming el clasico.
i think inter is the biggest obstacle ... if barcelona can beat them the UCL is theirs and we saw what happened in the group stage inter got murderd
Who care what the biased English media have to say about Barca and the players, as long as we fans appreciate and respect the club and players, all is gud. The English press run their mouths, don't think and don't know anything about Spanish football or Barca...
I'm glad Man Utd were knocked out, no there's no English club in the semi-finals, so now is the EPL a bad league?
hopefully this set-back (man u's elimination) will sober up the press there.