Messi’s Brace Hands Barcelona 2-0 Win Against Arsenal

Arsenal seemed to have heeded the painful lessons that have blighted their recent Champions League campaigns when the score was 0-0 against Barcelona with 20 minutes left on Tuesday.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger blasted at his players of being “naive” after letting Barcelona hit them on the counter-attack to take a healthy 2-0 advantage after the first leg of the Champions League tie. “We had plenty of possession, we defended very well and we managed Arsenal’s transitions (counter- attacks) very well”.

Also, and worryingly for Gunners fans, Mascherano has insisted that Barca will be approaching the second leg with as much intensity as they approached the first. In the 83rd minute, Francis Coquelin was subbed by Mathieu Flamini and the Frenchman made an bad contribution a terrible move on Messi in his first minute on the field to grant Barca a penalty- and Messi scores as expected.

Messi has proved a thorn in Arsenal’s side on each of the last two occasions the teams have met in the Champions League.

“Particularly when we have lost a game we have tried to bounce back quickly and I think we have a great chance on Sunday to do that again and to show we are still in a strong position and still competing for the title”.

“In their transition they never make a bad pass. They are better than us, there is no shame, they are European champions and that is no coincidence”. “I like everything about what we did tonight”.

MESSI RUBS IT IN Meanwhile, Messi said Barca were confident Arsenal would crumble in the second half. The game finished in a 2-2 draw as Bayern squandered a great chance to take a big lead back home.

The one blemish, if any, on Barcelona’s performance was a yellow card for Gerard Pique after 85 minutes, which means he misses the return at the Nou Camp on March 16, leaving him with a clean slate for a probable quarter-final in April.

“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”.

“It’s a bit disappointing to give them a goal like we did the first one, I feel we are extremely guilty and have no excuse for that goal”. We had more space, which is how we prefer to play.

It could have been even worse for the hosts after Cech tipped over from Neymar in injury time, but the Gunners still face a huge task as they look to overturn a two-goal deficit.