Barcelona have taken an important step towards the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with to a 2-0 win on the road against Arsenal in North London, thanks to a brace from Lionel Messi. With a complete performance, the Blaugrana dominated possession and ultimately prevailed against a parked bus from the Gunners. Furthermore, the Catalan giants extended their spectacular unbeaten streak to 33 games. Perfect evening.
FIRST HALF
The hosts had a clear gameplan for the first half: defend and counter. They did both with competence, and troubled Barça. The best chance of the half belonged to Arsenal, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain couldn't finish a shot inside the box and Ter Stegen made an important save.
The Blaugrana had almost all the possession in the first 45 minutes, but failed to translate the domination into real opportunities, thanks in part to the giant wall formed by the Arsenal defense. In the final minutes, however, the Catalans slowly started to find small spaces, and Luis Suárez had two big chances. He decided to pass the first one, and missed a wide-open header in the second one.
A very physical first half ended with no goals, but an intense outing that promised good things for the rest of the game.
SECOND HALF
Barça continued to have the ball and struggle against a set defense, while Arsenal stayed put and waited for the right time to attack. They had a marvelous chance with a header from Olivier Giroud, but Ter Stegen pulled off an incredible save.
And then, when the Gunners finally went forward and tried to attack, they were caught. In a lightning quick fast break that involved the entire 'MSN' trio, Neymar found Messi in the box, and the Argentinean completely took Petr Cech out of the picture with a soft control before finishing to give Barça the lead.
To make things worse for Arsenal, Mathieu Flamini, who just came on as a substitute, committed a dumb foul on Messi in the box. The world's best player didn't miss his spot-kick, and buried the ball past the keeper to double the lead.
In the end, a fantastic away win, two goals for Messi against Cech, and a giant step to the Last Eight. What a night.
Arsenal: Cech; Bellerín, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin (Flamini), Ramsey; Chamberlain (Walcott), Özil, Sánchez; Giroud (Welbeck)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Neymar
Goals: Messi (72', 83')
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