Barcelona 4 Arsenal 1: Magical Lionel Messi hits four
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1 more to messi.
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Arsenal got alot to learn from Barca man.. And why is Messi so imba >.<
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Few years back arsenal and barcelona equally match. Now Arsenal getting worst and worst while barcelona is going miles ahead. When arsenal lose barcelona we got so much quality on the pitch We got henry, lunjberg, pires ashley cole. And now we have bendtner , eduardo , walcott and denlison. This is very sad for the fans. Even arsenal buy 4-5 players we still cant compete with the best. Time to have a change. Wenger have been great for arsenal time for him to move on. Get some1 who teach arsenal how to defend.
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When Arsenal score first I thought wah, got chance to kick Barce out, then...
The Arsenal team had too many inexperienced young players... The likes of Diaby, Vermaelen, Nasri, Denilson & Bendtner all good players but not much experienced in Europe... They were over raw by the occasion...
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arsenal can be what barcelona is.. provided they have the financial backing to keep their players.. and they gain enough experience...
their playing philosophy is similar, they just keep losing players to other teams...
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eduardo is the worst (saw him play against birmingham)
hmm saw the goal which bendtner score
after that
things change
messi score 4 goals
Last goal
OLE..... -
messi is the best player at the moment, and at nou camp, he just did what he is expected to..
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every few years we see a phenomenon arise, seen the likes of Ronaldo (Brazil), then Ronaldinho, then Zidane, I think now we have messi.
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Originally posted by zocoss:
When Arsenal score first I thought wah, got chance to kick Barce out, then...
The Arsenal team had too many inexperienced young players... The likes of Diaby, Vermaelen, Nasri, Denilson & Bendtner all good players but not much experienced in Europe... They were over raw by the occasion...
Haha,why u dislike Barcelona so much? -
Originally posted by Patrik:
Haha,why u dislike Barcelona so much?I just prefer English clubs more to Spanish ones that's all... But if between the 2, i prefer Real since the Beckham days...
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Originally posted by Rock^Star:
every few years we see a phenomenon arise, seen the likes of Ronaldo (Brazil), then Ronaldinho, then Zidane, I think now we have messi.
I am still not sure if now we have Messi, cos he has only shown it in the Barce shirt along with a group of very high quality players... Wait till he does it with Argentina, who isn't a push over by any means. They are also a world super power in footballing terms...
So far he hasn't deliver in the international stage yet... Maybe come June we will know better...
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Originally posted by Rock^Star:
every few years we see a phenomenon arise, seen the likes of Ronaldo (Brazil), then Ronaldinho, then Zidane, I think now we have messi.
a pity, when none of them grace the EPL stage..
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for those who have been to nou camp, they will understand the greatness of the club and why non-spanish team will have such a hard time time.
i have been there twice; and the last time, messi was only a fringe player but my catalan frens were already revering him and beaming his name to me. (to my folly) i didn't take them seriously then. you could say they saw it coming.....
this result is astounding both for the player and club. one wonder how long it can stay at that orbital standard that they have set for club football.
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yeh wait till messi does it on the international stage. But he can, without doubt. He twists and turns in the blink of any eye...and the ball is stuck to his feet. Haha, he will shine in S Africa for sure.
Last time he was just a shorty until he injected growth hormones haha wow and barca actually saw his potential. Cool
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Let's not get carried away with it... Barcelona is having a 'golden period' that's all. But a few years ago, they were already considered a wash up side. It was not until a new president came in Joan Laporta and the arrival of Rijkaard and Ronaldinho that changed their fortunes and playing style...
Barce are enjoying the fruit of the labour Rijkaard started... It shouldn't be too surprising that they are one of the best sides in the world, after all they are the 3rd highest paid team in the world after the New York Yankees and Real Madrid.
Personally, I am very sure Real will topple them very soon. Maybe even sooner (This season's league title) Cos even at present, despite Real having a rather new team and new players just getting use to the Laliga, they are already shoulder to shoulder with a Barce side that have played together for a few good years... In my personal opinion, Real will get better year on year for the next 3 to 5 year. Whereas, Barce will be lucky if they manage to stay up there once a current president goes...
As for Messi, he have everything to play for at the World cup... Let's hope he brings it to SA.
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I dont think real madrid will toople bacra, been few years but no success.
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Originally posted by TTFU:
I dont think real madrid will toople bacra, been few years but no success.
Been a few years and no success? What's the 2006/07 and 2007/8 league titles then?
This is the first year only with the arrival of Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Alonso... all have been playing in different leagues... But they will only get better after their first season... And also we are looking at the raise of Gonzalo Higuain...
They are currently leading the Spanish league table aren't they? So I would say not bad for a rather newly form team playing together in their first year...
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Barcelona 4 Arsenal 1: Magical Lionel Messi hits four to wreck Gunners' Euro dream as champions cruise into last four
Barcelona win 6-3 on aggregate
From the scoreboard here at the Nou Camp came the words that will live long in the memory of Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal players. ‘GOOOOOOOL DE MESSI,’ it screamed, after 21, 37 and 42 minutes of a mesmerising first half and 42 minutes of a second that wasn’t too shabby either.
If this Barcelona team are the best Wenger has ever seen, Lionel Messi must rank high among the finest players Arsenal’s manager has cast his expert eye over. A player now standing proudly in the pantheon of great number 10s.
A player whose extraordinary gifts position him alongside Pele, Maradona and Zidane, Platini and Gullit. ‘He has made the impossible possible,’ gushed Wenger before comparing him to a computer-generated figure on PlayStation.
Perfect 10: Lionel Messi - Barca's magical No10 - issued a swift rebuke to Arsenal's opener by instantly firing in an equaliser on the night
Great Dane: Nicklas Bendtner put Arsenal into a dream lead to go ahead in the tie after latching onto his rebounded save from Valdes
Two good: Messi splits the Arsenal defence for the second time shortly after his first to put Barca in the lead
Over and out: With sublime skill Messi breaks through to lob Almunia and seal his first-half hat-trick, shattering Arsenal's Erupean dream
Simply the best: Messi makes it four as Almunia and his Arsenal defence are left to rue the awesome ability of the Argentinian ace
He was astonishing here at the Nou Camp last night. An explosion of pace, skill and artistry to which Arsenal had no answer. To which no team, in fairness to a static Arsenal defence significantly weakened by the absence of William Gallas and Alex Song, could seriously expect to respond.
Mesmerised: Theo Walcott
The diminutive Argentinian they had to feed growth hormone has become a giant of the global game. The world’s highest paid player and rightly so judging by this one-man demolition of an Arsenal side that dared to dream when Nicklas
Bendtner secured the most unlikely of leads in the 18th minute.‘We have come back from the dead,’ declared Wenger after seeing his side score two late goals in that similarly stunning first leg and he probably thought so again when his towering Danish striker struck. But Messi quickly saw to it that they did not live on for long.
For the 17 minutes prior to Bendtner’s goal, Barcelona had given them another masterclass in passing football. The kind of football that has set a new benchmark. The kind of football Wenger has long aspired to but has so far only seen these classy Catalans deliver.
He has got close with players like Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires, but never quite to the standard now being set by Pep Guardiola’s European champions.
Messi shone brightest here, using both feet to score four goals for the first time in his career and taking his tally for the season to 39. But the gene pool of genius, largely developed in this club’s academy, spreads beyond Messi and into players like Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta.
They did exactly what Guardiola said they would when he was asked, on the eve of this encounter, how to combat the pace of a player like Theo Walcott. By keeping the ball and therefore limiting Arsenal’s opportunities to unleash their English thoroughbred. Just like they did in north London, they enjoyed 70 per cent of the possession in a distinctly one-sided first half.
There could be no complaints from a chastened Arsenal. They only got back into this tie because of the way Barcelona eased off after two goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the Emirates and this time they made sure there was no repeat.
Only a team with a more physical approach can hope to compete with Barcelona. A team like Chelsea, as we saw in last season’s competition, or possibly the Inter Milan side Jose Mourinho will now prepare for what promises to be a fascinating semi-final.
A real clash of cultures as well as two of the most interesting managers
in the game.
No way through: Sergi Busquets keeps Denilson of Arsenal (right) away from the Barca goal
MATCH FACTS
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Valdes; Alves, Marquez, Milito, Abidal (Maxwell 53min); Xavi, Busquets, Keita; Pedro (Iniesta 86), Messi, Bojan (Toure 55).
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Almunia; Sagna, Vermaelen, Silvestre (Eboue 63), Clichy; Denilson, Diaby; Walcott, Nasri, Rosicky (Eduardo 73); Bendtner.
Booked: Eboue, Rosicky, Denilson.
Man of the match: Lionel Messi.
Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany).Arsenal cannot become such a side, and the challenge now facing them is how they react to this quarter-final defeat. Wenger praised his players for their strength of character and they will have to be strong to deal with so demoralising an experience.
They may feel like that Tony Hancock character who has to deal with the crushing realisation, when in Paris, that his art is actually juvenile garbage.
This Arsenal team are better than that, of course. But there could be a painful period of introspection when they reflect on just how ineffective they were against Barcelona’s
superior beings. Not even the fact that they were also missing Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie is likely to remove that feeling of inferiority.From the very start they were made to look like the statues in the Nou Camp museum, frozen seemingly by the fluency of Barcelona’s passing and the fluidity of their movement.
Net loss: Gael Clichy and Mikael Silvestre after Barcelona's Lionel Messi had completed his hat-trick
Wenger had told them not to be intimidated but he did so in vain.
That Arsenal actually led this tie for three minutes is hard to believe.
But when Abou Diaby suddenly won the ball off Gabriel Milito with a crunching challenge, he then sent Walcott clear with the best pass Arsenal produced all night. Walcott sprinted clear, played the ball into Bendtner when he probably should have shot, and then watched in relief when his colleague shrugged off the challenge of Daniel Alves and reacted to the sight of Victor Valdes saving his first effort by scoring with his second.
While Barcelona protested furiously because of what they considered to be Diaby’s foul challenge, their anger subsided the moment Messi struck his first of the night.
A goal that owed much to Mikael Silvestre’s failure to clear the ball and instead play it back into Messi’s path, but was still the result of a quite stunning left-footed finish.
Relatively quiet in the first leg, Messi was really starting to come to life in this game.
He skipped past five Arsenal players before Denilson stopped him with a challenge
that earned him a booking and then he terrorised Silvestre again before driving a right-footed shot into the side-netting.A second was nevertheless inevitable and it arrived in the 37th minute, yet more desperate defending allowing Pedro Rodriguez to seize on Thomas Vermaelen’s failure to deal with a cross from Eric Abidal and play the ball back to his team-mate.
Having started the move, Messi finished, this time with his right foot.
Four minutes after that and he had struck his third, this time with a demonstration of his speed as well as his skill.
Seydou Keita put him clear with a perfectly executed header before Messi lifted the ball over the advancing Manuel Almunia and sent it bouncing into the net.
After the break and Barcelona continued to dominate, albeit with a touch more caution.
Until, that is, Messi beat three Arsenal defenders and responded to a decent save from Almunia by driving the ball through the Arsenal goalkeeper’s legs.
Through the agony, Wenger had no choice but to express his admiration.
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Wenger,u not onli shocked Barca,u shocked the whole world.
HAHA
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anybody got the highlights for this match?
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saw the post game conference
wenger say its like a playstation game.
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Originally posted by stellazio:
anybody got the highlights for this match?
http://www.footballepl.com/videos/play?id=CC5DA01E00000127D58935DE2DDAA90C
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Credit to Barca for the win. Was kind of expecting this already. Not the Messi hat-trick though. Anyway, don't look down on Inter & Mourinho. I think he is already planning on how to stifle Barca in the semis.
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Originally posted by -Wanderer-:
Credit to Barca for the win. Was kind of expecting this already. Not the Messi hat-trick though. Anyway, don't look down on Inter & Mourinho. I think he is already planning on how to stifle Barca in the semis.
yes. to play an open game against barcelona is suicidal. you need to man mark messi and stop xavi and co from dictating play from midfield. when is the CL semis btw? next week?