iSporter Praneet Mhatre reviews the quarter final match at Nou Camp between Barcelona and Arsenal and more importantly pays a tribute to the best of them all, Lionel Messi!
Barcelona fired four times as many shots on target as Arsenal and enjoyed an incredible 70% ball possession in the second leg of their quarter final tie. The final scoreline of 4-1 also hints at the kind of supremacy Barca displayed last night. But no statistic can describe what the 95,000 strong crowd at Camp Nou (or millions watching at home, for that matter) got to witness in those magical 90 minutes. Lionel Messi put on an exhibition which had a goal scored with a bullet kick, one sublimely chipped over the keeper’s head and another scored with his wrong foot. Simply put – Messi massacred Arsenal in a space of 21 minutes and firmly etched his name amongst the greatest footballers to have ever graced this wonderful game.
I realize that I am conveniently forgetting that there were 21 other players including an Arsenal team, which itself is known to play pretty (pun intended) free-flowing football! So let’s just rewind back to the 18th minute of the game. Against the run of the play, Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner found themselves heading towards the Catalan goal with a solitary defender to beat. Walcott’s short pass to Bendtner wasn’t the most accurate he would ever deliver, but the Danish forward managed to get his foot onto it and eventually scored on the rebound, putting his side 3-2 up on the aggregate. For a moment, I started wondering if Barca were doing an Arsenal here – creating chances in abundance , but failing to find the back of the net! That was the time when King Leo decided to take over and the rest, as they will say in the future, was history!
It all started in the 21st minute. Messi was lucky to have the ball rebound off an Arsenal defender back to his own feet; but there was nothing lucky about the way he drilled in his side’s first from the outside of the box! Again in the 25th minute, he dazzled his way past 3 Arsenal defenders, but was eventually brought down by Denilson. Messi got his name on the scoresheet again in the 37th minute with probably his least beautiful goal of the night!
The Argentine enchanter completed his fourth hat trick of this calendar year with a delightful chip over Manuel Almunia’s head. Arsenal were looking totally out of sorts at this moment. The frequency of fouls committed by the Gunners was very uncharacteristic of them. This is the part where the rest of the Barcelona players deserve credit. They never let the level of intensity created by Messi’s awe-inspiring display drop; keeping the Arsenal players on their toes throughout the game. Xavi was particularly brilliant and deserved to be named ‘Man’ of The Match (Yes! I think it’s time we stopped comparing Messi with lesser mortals and let him set his own standards).
Messi’s fourth almost had an air of bossy aggression about it! One could see that once he put his head down and started dribbling his way towards the goal, he knew he was going to score; not just him, I am pretty sure that the Arsenal players knew it too! A wonderful solo goal from the best player in the world took the aggregate score to 6-3 and secured the Catalan giants’ fourth Champions League semi-final under coach pep Guardiola. And you don’t really need an expert to state that Barca are now going to be all out favourites to win the title again this year.
However, last night’s game was much more than a mere quarter-finals tie. Every sport in the world thrives on its superstars and Football is no exception. We have players taking home the Ballon d’Or’s and FIFA World Player of The Year trophies every year, but for me, it takes a lot more to be called an all time great – to be counted amongst the Maradonas and Peles and Cruyffs and Beckenbauers. One thing communal to all these legends is that they make the game look ridiculously simple! When they are playing, you know that you are watching history being made in front of you and don’t need to go back and check the statistics to realize how brilliantly they played. French magician Zinedine Zidane and El Fenomeno Luiz Ronaldo were the last couple of players that I would put in this category. I had been looking everywhere for years to find possible new additions to this elite club. My search finally ended last night.
All hail King Leo!
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a guest
said:
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... hey great article man...the god was simply awesome that night, pity they're not in the finals tonight tho...part of that again shows he can be bogged down if u park a bus (sorry, an aeroplane for Jose)...but it did happen in the the semifinal against chelsea a couple ov years back too, with no real heavy parking done... kudos, nice work! |
Praneet Mhatre
said:
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... Thanks Kartik! And Messi's real test is going to be this summer in South Africa! Let's see how he fares there. |
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