Messi scores twice against Čech, Bayern draw against Juventus in Champions League Last 16

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Yesterday, in the Last 16 round of the UEFA Champions League 2015–2016, Spanish football club FC Barcelona defeated London-based club Arsenal F.C. 2–0 — Lionel Messi scoring both of those at the Emirates Stadium. Munich-based club Bayern Munich were held to a 2–2 draw against Italian club Juventus FC in the Juventus Stadium.

	Barcelona is a great team[...] We put a lot of energy in the game and technically we were very average.
—Arsène Wenger

At London, Barcelona had a greater ball possession against The Gunners. The match saw two yellow cards. Unbeaten in their last 32 games, Barça were not able to net goals for more than an hour. Arsène Wenger's team Arsenal held the defending champions, and it took 49 minutes for the Catalonians to have one shot on target. In the 71^st minute, Barcelona won the ball and began counter-attacking, where Messi–Suárez–Neymar, the MSN trio, broke the deadlock as the Argentine Messi scored his first goal against Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech.

In the 83^rd minute, Mathieu Flamini who was just subbed in brought the Argentine down in the penalty area and the visitors won a penalty. Messi scored his second of the night leaving the English side facing an uphill battle. Arsenal have been eliminated in the Last 16 round five consecutive times. After the match, Wenger told BT Sport "Barcelona is a great team[...] We put a lot of energy in the game and technically we were very average."

Barcelona in their last 33 unbeaten games have netted 100 goals. Arsenal are to play the second leg at Camp Nou on March 16.

In the other fixture of the night, between Bayern Munich and Juventus, the Germans had better ball possession. Thomas Müller and Arjen Robben put the visitors 2–0 up, netting in the 43^rd and the 55^th minute respectively. But after the hour mark, Paulo Dybala and Stefano Sturaro brought Juventus level by scoring in the 63^rdand the 76^th minutes, and the first leg finished in a 2–2 draw. The match saw four bookings, three for the visitors.

Juventus continued their unbeaten streak of now seventeen home matches in European competition since defeat in 2013 against Bayern Munich.

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Sources

James Masters. "Champions League: Lionel Messi strikes as Barcelona beats Arsenal" — CNN, February 23, 2016
"Magical Messi casts spell over Arsenal in Barça win" — UEFA, February 23, 2016
"Juventus fightback frustrates Bayern" — UEFA, February 23, 2016

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