Entering Tuesday, Lionel Messi had failed to score in six matches against Petr Cech, offering the faintest glimmer of hope to Arsenal in its Champions League tie against Barcelona. Perhaps the Gunners could, against all the odds, do the unthinkable if the Argentine phenom was unable to find a way past the Czech ‘keeper once more.
Such a suggestion looks silly following 90 minutes of entertaining football at the Emirates Stadium.
In the first leg of the tie between Arsenal and Barcelona in the Champions League’s round of 16, the Gunners – despite flaunting phenomenal defensive concentration before the interval – eventually succumbed to the Blaugrana’s suffocating pressure. Messi scored two goals, one of which came from the penalty spot, and the Catalan club will enter the second leg with a 2-0 lead on aggregate.
It was a tale of two halves, and a game that triggered collective heartbreak for Arsenal’s players and supporters.
First Half
The first 45 minutes couldn’t have gone better for Arsenal.
Barcelona enjoyed the lion’s share of possession but was ultimately unable to expose Arsenal’s defensive unit. The best two chances came in the 90 seconds leading up to the interval, one of which saw Luis Suarez fail to hit the target with a header from inside the Gunners’ 6-yard box.
It was, simply put, an excellent first-half performance from Arsenal in which the threat of Messi, Suarez, and Neymar was largely nullified. The Gunners were happy to surrender possession, and Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, and Nacho Monreal refused to allow the Blaugrana entry into their penalty area.
2 – Barcelona have touched the ball just twice in the Arsenal box in the opening 30 mins (Arsenal have had 11 in Barca’s). Tamed. #AFCvFCB
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 23, 2016
By the time the interval arrived, Arsenal had done something that no club had against Barcelona in over two years.
0 – Barcelona have failed to attempt a shot on target in the first half of a #UCL game for the first time since November 2013. Shy. #AFCvFCB
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 23, 2016
Second Half
It was clear from the beginning of the second half that the encounter wouldn’t end scoreless. Barcelona finally produced its first shot on target in the 48th minute when Neymar was denied by Cech after being put through on goal, and Arsenal’s best chance came seconds before the hour mark, when Marc-Andre ter Stegen made a wonderful save on a header from Olivier Giroud.
Finally, in the 70th minute – and to the heartbreak of Arsenal supporters – Messi beat Cech for the first time in his career, capping off a counter attack that took Barcelona 16 seconds from start to finish.
While it was a new experience for Cech, it was a scene that Arsenal fans have become accustomed to witnessing over recent years, and that triggered memories of Messi’s four-goal performance in the quarterfinals of the 2009-10 Champions League.
8 – Lionel Messi now has eight #UCL goals vs Arsenal – only against AC Milan (8) has he scored as often. Ruthless. #AFCvFCB
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 23, 2016
And Messi wasn’t done there. Mathieu Flamini gave away a penalty only 47 seconds after taking the pitch as a substitute for Francis Coquelin, and the reigning World Player of the Year calmly converted from 12 yards out, putting Arsenal on the brink of elimination in all-too-familiar fashion.
Based on historic results, the 2-0 Barcelona win means that Arsenal have 2.3% chance of reaching QF Barça have a 97.7% chance to progress.
— Infostrada Sports (@InfostradaLive) February 23, 2016
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