Messi magic mauls Arsenal

Gunners undone by brilliant Barca ace

By Rob Parrish   Last updated: 7th April 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

lionel messi hat trick

But they were swiftly snuffed out by Messi

nicklas bendtner arsenal barcelona

Bendtner had briefly given Arsenal hope

barcelona celebrate

Barcelona mob their man of the moment

Lionel Messi Arsenal Barcelona Champions League

Messi: Destroyed Arsenal
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Lionel Messi produced a mesmerising master-class to end Arsenal's UEFA Champions League dreams and send Barcelona into the semi-finals with a 6-3 aggregate success.

The prodigiously talented Argentina international claimed a hat-trick of extraordinary quality in the space of 21 first-half minutes and added a fourth at the death after the Gunners had threatened to upset the odds by opening the scoring in Camp Nou.

Nicklas Bendtner's goal briefly gave Arsene Wenger's men the lead for the first time in the tie, but hopes of an improbable upset in the second leg were whisked away by the magical feet of Barcelona's diminutive genius.

Arsenal's defence were simply unable to cope with Messi as he levelled almost immediately before going on to score twice more before the interval and again in the second half to set up a semi-final showdown with Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan.

Manuel Almunia was called into action in the opening moments as he was forced to plunge to his left to tip away Messi's low shot from the edge of the box which was arrowing towards the bottom corner.

Barca, just as they had done in the first leg, dominated possession, but they were hit by a breakaway goal in the 19th minute with the pace of Theo Walcott again instrumental.

Lethal

Abou Diaby played in the England international down the right as the Barca defence stepped up, and although his pass to Bendtner allowed Victor Valdes to make an initial save, the Danish striker kept his cool to fire home the rebound.

But their lead lasted just seconds as the lethal Messi played a one-two with the unwitting Mikael Silvestre before lashing a stunning 20-yard strike into the top corner and beyond Almunia's despairing dive.

Messi embarked on another mazy run on the half-hour mark, beating several players before Denilson slid in to win the ball. Referee Wolfgang Stark was of a different opinion and booked the Brazilian, with Almunia forced to get behind Dani Alves' powerful free-kick.

Moments later, Tomas Rosicky lost possession as Gael Clichy galloped forward, allowing Messi to go one-on-one with Silvestre but to the Gunners' relief he could only find the side netting.

There was no stopping the Argentina international in the 37th minute as Arsenal were unable to cut out Eric Abidal's cross, with Pedro flicking the ball to Messi who calmly lifted it over the onrushing Almunia.

Audacious

And he completed a fabulous hat-trick in the space of 21 breathtaking first-half minutes, breaking Arsenal's woeful offside trap to draw Almunia from his line before executing a chip of audacious ability with supreme simplicity.

Pep Guardiola's men were more circumspect following the interval, perhaps mindful of the two late goals they had conceded at Emirates Stadium last week, and maybe even with one eye on their El Clasico meeting with Real Madrid on Saturday.

Gabriel Milito produced an excellent sliding challenge in his own box to deny Bendtner the chance to test Valdes, while Rosicky could only fire well over the bar when found in space on the edge of the area.

Pedro had the chance to make it four in the 71st minute but chipped wide from Messi's quick free-kick which caught the visitors napping, before Bendtner struck the post only to see the flag raised for offside, while Walcott did the same late on.

Fittingly, the final word went to Messi as he beat Emmanuel Eboue and Thomas Vermaelen only to be denied by Almunia, but he kept his cool to drill his and Barcelona's fourth goal through the legs of the bewildered goalkeeper.

BarcelonaTeam StatisticsArsenal
4Goals1
31st Half Goals1
8Shots on Target2
6Shots off Target4
0Blocked Shots0
3Corners2
16Fouls19
1Offsides3
0Yellow Cards3
0Red Cards0
87.9Passing Success76.8
23Tackles27
69.6Tackles Success66.7
68Possession32
50.3Territorial Advantage49.7

Comments (57)

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Shaq Thecatalanyouth (Barcelona fan) says...

R.I.P Arsenal...you guys have lost but against the worthiest of opponents.After watching this fixture I reiterate a statement all my friends know me for....Arsenal has 2 main faults: 1) the team is too young...not fatigued...and this is Wenger's fault...it's his decision. The board of governors doesn't care who you play...young or old at the end of the day they want the results. 2) Wenger is a problem by himself...his stubbornness to continually rely on these inexperienced youngsters at the highest level of the game is causing problems with the teams tactics....Barcelona's balance in expertise in their entire squad has brought them where they are today...we keep youth yet we have experienced veterans( yes we have , Xavi is 30 and Puyol is 31 I think just to name a few) who keep these young sparks in check ..In my opinion Wenger should be more open minded and listen to the advice on this matter that I'm sure he's getting or he should leave for us to see a better Arsenal

Posted 06:23 7th April 2010

Angelo Gonzales (Arsenal fan) says...

I am Argentinean and an Arsenal fan 4 life! Messi is a freak, Barca played great but we must remember and this is not an excuse, that without half of Arsenal's A team and key players, we never had a chance against them at the Nu Camp. And even though I think Messi is brilliant, he is nowhere near EL DIEGO. Have it

Posted 06:19 7th April 2010

Mark Gonzalez (Manchester United fan) says...

I think some managers would sell their soul to have something anywhere near Messi's ungodly talent in their team. I was mesmerized just watching him against Arsenal. As a Manchester Utd, I'm not looking forward to playing them after we plough through Bayern and then Lyon/Bordeaux. =P

Posted 05:42 7th April 2010

Alex Deane (Manchester City fan) says...

Ho ho ho ! What a shame. Just think if Arsenal had kept Adebayor instead of Bendtner and Toure instead of Sylvestre. Still, as the gooners insisted on tellng us at the time, they didn't need them. Another trophyless season and City closing fast.

Posted 05:13 7th April 2010

Kevin Wilson (Arsenal fan) says...

Arsenal missed Song today. Messi was great, but Song would be in Messi face all night and arsenal just missed that tonight.

Posted 04:40 7th April 2010

Marc Wei (Arsenal fan) says...

This defeat was difficult to swallow and in many ways the early first goal made it even harder. We were beaten by the better side but a side who will probably go on to win the title (assuming nothing happens to Messi). While Barca (unlike Arsenal) have depth to their squad and a whole host of other quality players one cannot doubt that without Messi Barca would be a noticeably poorer side and if you were to take Messi out of the equation last night they may not have scored against us (or at least found it very difficult).

Posted 04:17 7th April 2010

Nick Hadges (Chelsea fan) says...

To stop Barcelona you must stop Messi, on every single occasion where Chelsea have met Barca the manager has designated a player to be on Messi the whole night and every time we play them he has done nothing. From memory he has not scored against us and has no assists. If you frustrate Messi he complains and falls out of the game. Tactics and Pace are the ay to beat Barca.

Posted 04:16 7th April 2010

Nick Hadges (Chelsea fan) says...

There are only 3 teams that can beat Barcelona in the Champions league. Chelsea, Manchester United and any team Mourinho manages. They have the strength, grunt and pace to worry Barcelona. Barca have had a free run to the semi final and I hope they draw Inter becuase Mourinho knows how to knock Barcelona out.

Posted 04:08 7th April 2010

Tony Connor says...

True a great performance by Messi but he was allowed the time and space to do this by a poor but depleted Arsenal team. Without Fabregas Arsenal are mediocre. Inter will be a different proposition and those thinking Barcelona have won this competition already are in for a shock. Why is it that Liverpool fans seem to want to use a great performance by Messi to have a go at Rooney? Rooney is England's best and we have to make the most of that.

Posted 04:05 7th April 2010

Steven Walsh (Arsenal fan) says...

I think this is outrageous, Barcelona are by far the best team in the World, by a very very long way, and Lionel Messi has proved today that he is by far the best player in the world, s Arsene Wenger says by a distance, and now there is loads of very hypocritical arsenal 'fans' saying get wenger out, however when arsenal do well its beacuse we have him, if by some stroke of luck arsenal would have won today all those arsenal fans, would of been saying genious by so and so, and it would of been back to In Arsene we trus, so for gods sake stop hating on the young kids of arsenal and actually get behind the team

Posted 03:48 7th April 2010

Andrew Azzopardi (AC Milan fan) says...

ive been watching football since 1986 and barcelona are the best team i have ever seen by far. apart from playing beautiful football when they are in possesion of the ball, they got an impressive work rate and all throughout the game they press with all their players to win the ball back and many times they do. messi in my opinion is the best player ever, even better then maradona hes got everything maradona had but is faster and his head is were it should be when your the best footballer in the world and all the kids look up to you, he is a good example to his admirers. arsenal should not loose heart from this defeat they lost against the best side in the world(any team would have lost against barcelona when they play like they did this week), at least they went out and tried to play thier game, they didnt just stick 11 players in their half and tried to defend like chelsea did last year, cos to me that was more imbarrising to english football when you see a top side like chelsea who are supposed to be one of the best and most feared teams in england, play 180 minutes abanst barca and ventured in to the barca penalty area only a couple of times they just tried to close up everyspace they could in their area but when you do that against barca 9 times out of 10 they will always end up finding a goal like iniesta did, chelea never looked like they could beat barca last year and chelsea were made to look like they are a team which should be fighting for relegation not the premiership, just defending defending and defending, at least arsenal gave it a go and if anything, even if the scoreline suggests otherwise, to me they looked like they could have done more damage to barca then chelsea.

Posted 03:46 7th April 2010

Mick Collins says...

Barcelona has Messi. Arsenal has Bendtner. The gulf in technical ability, speed, and finishing prowess illustrates the sheer different in class between these two teams. Arsenal can compete in the Premier League, but need top-quality strikers to become the best in Europe.

Posted 03:24 7th April 2010

Homzie D (Manchester United fan) says...

Well, Messi is undoubtedly world class and he showed why he was the world's best player of 2009. Well done Barca, you outplayed Arsenal over the 2 legs. Now "The Special One" and Inter await you. Two of the world's best young managers go head to head. Should be a classic.

Posted 03:24 7th April 2010

John Ryan (Arsenal fan) says...

Spirited absolutely, outclassed completely.. But still to just take a look at the Arsenal youngsters and to fathom what they have achieved against the odds with the likez of Fab, RVP and Arshavin out, they gave it a good shot. At full strength 4-1 would not have been the result last night... Even Song starting would have been some reprieve. However I feel Guardiola was a clever bugger not playing Y Toure from the start; it says that he feels Barca would always score more than Arsenal, (Wise enough not to sit back). But I still think Wenger threw out the best team that he could have, at his disposal. I Would have loved to see Ramsey tonight in Diaby's role. Any fan of any colour is blind not to see how crocked Arsenal have been over the last 2 seasons, people can argue there is not enough strength and depth at at Arsenal for the pinnacle of European football... However, what they had to deliver was to get a result with whoever was left in their ranks to play.... Respect to Arsenal and congrats to Barca. Messi = silly football, devide that by minus RVP, Fab, Arshavin and then subtract Song and -70% Eduardo = 4-1... The end

Posted 03:14 7th April 2010

Mohammad Ahmad (Newcastle United fan) says...

I completely agree with El Fonz! Spot on. English fans are in denial. The fact is Messi in World's best and so is Barca! There isn't a single english team who can challenge them at the moment. Arsenal fans are making excuses for missing player, they need to be reminded that barca were missing Ibra, Ineista, puyol and piqué. Infact, as mentioned by El Fonz before Arsenal were playing better at Nou Camp without their star player. Arsenal fans needs to wake up, wenger to doing the right thing. Same as what barca do. Make your own home grown players... U can't buy trophies. Look at Chelsea, with all the money in the world, they couldn't win anything without Jose apart from the FA cup.

Posted 02:44 7th April 2010

Steve Alanhansen says...

Messi was outstanding, Rooney and Ronaldo cannot be compared with him, Though we got battered on the night i think that Arsenal can take some positives from the tie over the two legs, we showed great determination in the first leg to pull back level but we were simply outclassed in the second leg, Barcelona are like Arsenal except older. They are the mature spanish versions of Arsenal and hopefully in a couple of years time we can become like them. I think if Arsenal had had all of our players fit we could've won the tie over the two legs.

Posted 02:27 7th April 2010

Josh Harrinsoon (Arsenal fan) says...

Funny how all these people talk about how it could have been different if we have Cesc, Song, Gallas and Arshavin. People seem to forget the first 60 minutes in London awful quick.

Posted 02:11 7th April 2010

Garry Cotton (Arsenal fan) says...

No surprise to me to see Messi rampant on the night where Song was injured, he was the only one keeping him at bay in the first leg. Barcelona completely trumped us though, ability-wise and most importantly: tactically. They pressurised us considerably more when they were out of possession and while with it they always had multiple passing options due to great movement. Arsenal didn't seem to move at all tonight, it was a very static 'performance' from us that was uncharacteristic and got that bad we began lumping balls up. I couldn't believe I was watching an Arsenal game where I was yelling at the screen "pass the ball" - usually it's the complete opposite! I do feel we rely too much on our big players, the team that showed up tonight, with just a few key players missing, was several grades below our first XI. We need to improve our squad overall and we need to improve defensively as we rely too heavily on Song to keep our defensive structure. If we'd had the solidity of years past we may well have won it but you can only employ counter-attacking tactics if your defence is solid which ours is not. In addition, the difference in ability, experience and attitude between our first-teamers and the squad players is ridiculous. These two things need to be addressed or we'll never see that CL trophy.

Posted 02:00 7th April 2010

David Cronshaw says...

Congratulations to Barcelona, but also to Arsenal who played very well over both legs but could not stop the "unstoppable" Messi!!!! I say "unstoppable" because in 2007 Liverpool went to the Nou Camp and beat a Barcelona team which is far superior defensively and attacking wise than it is today. Which, didnt get the credit Liverpool deserved. I believe the side of 07 was better than it is today and i also believe Liverpool, although went out of the competition far to early because of there own mistakes, are the only side in European Champions league who can beat Barcelona! Shame we wont have a chance this or next season! Is Rooney better than Messi? As an all round player YES, attacking wise, NO! Who would i rather have in my team, coming from a Liverpool fan...... Wayne Rooney!

Posted 01:59 7th April 2010

John Mccormack (Chelsea fan) says...

Good game from a phenomenal team. But Arsenal were too depleted and they are a team without much depth. What has really come to the fore again today is the lack of creativity and cleverness of play. Arsenal had potentially fruitfull buildups (however few)but you saw how poor the decision making was. Wenger should be honest with himself and realise even the good teams like Barca keep learning. Barca, beside playing their usual way are now mixing it up here and there and they bought an oldfashioned centerfoward in Ibra- a lesson they have got from Chelsea over the years. Arsenal on the other hand, although good at passing the ball around still lack any creativity and need to mix it up when that is now working. Many people will forget here that in a normal season, Arsenal would have been an odd 20 points off the top and need to invest substantially to compete with Chelsea/ManU/ManCity next season. Again good performance from Barca, they know only one team could have beaten them out of the CL, and luckily that team is long since out.

Posted 23:16 6th April 2010
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