A Lionel Messi double helped Barcelona to a 3-1 victory over 10-man Arsenal on Tuesday to put them into the quarter-finals of the Champions League on a 4-3 aggregate.
The Argentine World Player of the Year was the difference as Barcelona produced another outstanding display of attacking soccer which left the Arsenal defense stretched from beginning to end.
The Catalan side needed just one goal after losing 2-1 at Emirates Stadium and Messi put them ahead in first-half stoppage time.
Photo: AFP
An own goal by Sergio Busquets put Arsenal back on level terms, but the game turned Barca’s way with the sending off of Robin van Persie two minutes later.
Xavi Hernandez leveled the aggregate, making the game 2-1, and then Leo Messi scored the decider with a penalty.
While Van Persie labeled the sending off a joke and questioned the validity of referee Massimo Busacca’s credentials for being in charge, a furious Arsene Wenger confronted the Swiss official in the tunnel afterward.
Photo: AFP
Barca coach Pep Guardiola accepted Arsenal were a very good side, but pinpointed why they had lost.
“We didn’t allow them to make three or four successive passes this evening,” he said. “We played a perfect game. I am so happy, indeed we all are at our performance. Over the two legs we were better than them.”
Arsenal defended deeply as they sought to avoid a repetition of last season’s annihilation when after scoring an early opener they were torn apart with Messi getting all the goals in a 4-1 rout.
A last ditch block by Laurent Koscielny from a Pedro Rodriguez shot after just three minutes set the stall for the Gunners as they attempted to snuff out the threat from Barca’s trident attack led by Messi.
Arsenal suffered a setback when goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was forced off with a wrist injury and Manuel Almunia stepped into the fray.
Koscielny made another important intervention and Johan Djourou made a tackle on Xavi Hernandez, who burst into the box, but Barca began to get frustrated as the goal did not appear to be coming.
The players remonstrated with the referee for what they saw as time wasting and in a heated spell Van Persie was booked for pushing Dani Alves in the face.
On the point of halftime, Barca finally found their way through as Andres Iniesta played in Messi and the Argentine kept his head to delicately chip the ball over the goalkeeper and volley it into an empty goal.
It appeared as though the visitors would be forced out of their shells, but they drew level in bizarre circumstances. A corner was floated in and Busquets surrounded by other Barca players directed his header back into his own net.
A deflated home crowd were on their feet minutes later though as Van Persie was harshly given a second yellow card for shooting after the whistle had blown. With the noise from a 90,000 capacity crowd Van Persie could perhaps have been given the benefit of the doubt in his claim he didn’t hear the whistle.
“My sending off was hugely influential on the outcome of the match,” Van Persie said. “It was a total joke. How can I hear the whistle when there are 95,000 fans jumping up and making noise.”
“He’s [Busacca] been bad all evening and I don’t know why he’s here,” Van Persie added. “They are unbelievable these people.”
With a man extra Barca pressed forward and a neat passing move split the Arsenal defense wide open. An Iniesta ball was flicked on by Villa into Xavi’s path and he finished coolly.
Minutes later and Barcelona extended their lead from the penalty spot with Messi slotting home after Pedro was upended by Koscielny.
SHAKHTAR 3, ROMA 0
AFP, DONETSK, UKRAINE
Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk made no mistake in ensuring they reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time with an impressive 3-0 victory over 10-man AS Roma to win 6-2 on aggregate in Donetsk on Tuesday.
Goals by Tomas Hubschmann, outstanding Brazilian Willian and Eduardo extended the 2009 UEFA Cup winners’ unbeaten home record in European competition to October 2008 when they went down to Sporting Lisbon.
After suffering a 3-2 home defeat in the first leg, Roma’s task was made virtually impossible when they were reduced to 10 men late in the first half when Philippe Mexes was sent off for a second yellow card.
Czech midfielder Hubschmann took the congratulations of his team in the 18th minute for the goal — his first in 17 months — though it appeared that he had not got a touch to Willian’s low cross.
Roma wasted a golden opportunity to reduce the deficit just before the half hour mark as English referee Howard Webb awarded them a penalty after Armenian international Henrik Mkhitaryan was penalized for holding back Marco Borriello.
However, Roma’s leading scorer then produced a dreadful effort which was saved by Andriy Pyatov.
The visitors’ chances took another huge blow in the 41st minute when their French central defender Mexes was sent off after being booked for a second time by World Cup final referee Webb when he tugged back Luis Adriano.
However, Webb was found wanting on the stroke of halftime when he booked Shakhtar captain Dario Srna instead of Roma midfielder Daniele di Rossi, who merited a red card for a clear and malicious elbow on Srna and made worse as the referee failed to award a penalty as the offense took place inside the Italians’ penalty area.
The energetic Mkhitaryan provided the first action of the second half as he cut in from the right and unleashed a fierce shot from outside of the box, but Roma goalkeeper Doni beat it away.
However, there was little Doni could do in the 58th minute as the 22-year-old Willian produced a finish of the highest class, bringing down a corner from outside the box and curling a half-volley into the top far corner to send the Ukrainian crowd into raptures.
Brazilian-born Croatian international Eduardo, the former Arsenal striker, rounded off a memorable evening for the hosts as he broke free three minutes from time and easily put the ball past Doni.
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