Messi mauls Arsenal again, Shakhtar sees off Roma
Source: Agencies |
March 10, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE brilliance of Lionel Messi crushed Arsenal's Champions League dreams for the second season in a row when the World Player of the Year netted twice to propel Barcelona into the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
A tense last-16 second leg at the Nou Camp, which the La Liga club completely dominated, was marred for Arsenal by the controversial dismissal of striker Robin van Persie 11 minutes into the second half.
A Sergio Busquets own goal to level the scores at 1-1 would have put the visitors through but a fine strike from Xavi and Messi's penalty gave the 2009 winner a 3-1 victory and a 4-3 aggregate success that sent it into the last eight for a fourth successive season.
Arsenal was furious with the referee over the sending-off but it failed to muster a single shot on goal in the entire game while Barca managed 19. The La Liga leader had almost 70 percent of the possession at a packed and boisterous Nou Camp stadium and completed 738 passes to Arsenal's 199.
"We played a fantastic match against 11 and against 10," Barca coach Pep Guardiola said. "We did not allow them to make more than three consecutive passes."
Arsenal was chasing the ball from the kickoff and was rocked when it was forced to replace goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with Manuel Almunia in the 19th minute after the Pole dislocated a finger when dealing with a Daniel Alves freekick.
Messi, who netted all four goals in a 4-1 win over Arsenal in last season's quarterfinals, put Barca ahead when he dashed on to Andres Iniesta's pass, lifted the ball over the keeper with an audacious flick and volleyed into the empty net.
After Busquets' error from a Samir Nasri corner, Xavi rifled home from close range in the 69th minute and Messi claimed his second in the 71st following Laurent Koscielny's foul on Pedro.
Shakhtar Donetsk also reached the quarterfinals for the first time after beating AS Roma 3-0. The Ukrainian champion advanced 6-2 on aggregate after goals from Tomas Huebschmann, Willian and Eduardo da Silva.
There was also a sending off in Ukraine. Roma defender Philippe Mexes was dismissed in the 41st after being shown two yellow cards for fouls on Luiz Adriano.
"We had a very good preparation for this match," Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said. "We were well organized and after we've scored the first goal, Roma didn't exist for us anymore. We won the match because we deserved it."
Roma was never going to win the competition and its exit allows new coach Vincenzo Montella to concentrate on trying to propel the sixth-placed side further up in Serie A.
A tense last-16 second leg at the Nou Camp, which the La Liga club completely dominated, was marred for Arsenal by the controversial dismissal of striker Robin van Persie 11 minutes into the second half.
A Sergio Busquets own goal to level the scores at 1-1 would have put the visitors through but a fine strike from Xavi and Messi's penalty gave the 2009 winner a 3-1 victory and a 4-3 aggregate success that sent it into the last eight for a fourth successive season.
Arsenal was furious with the referee over the sending-off but it failed to muster a single shot on goal in the entire game while Barca managed 19. The La Liga leader had almost 70 percent of the possession at a packed and boisterous Nou Camp stadium and completed 738 passes to Arsenal's 199.
"We played a fantastic match against 11 and against 10," Barca coach Pep Guardiola said. "We did not allow them to make more than three consecutive passes."
Arsenal was chasing the ball from the kickoff and was rocked when it was forced to replace goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with Manuel Almunia in the 19th minute after the Pole dislocated a finger when dealing with a Daniel Alves freekick.
Messi, who netted all four goals in a 4-1 win over Arsenal in last season's quarterfinals, put Barca ahead when he dashed on to Andres Iniesta's pass, lifted the ball over the keeper with an audacious flick and volleyed into the empty net.
After Busquets' error from a Samir Nasri corner, Xavi rifled home from close range in the 69th minute and Messi claimed his second in the 71st following Laurent Koscielny's foul on Pedro.
Shakhtar Donetsk also reached the quarterfinals for the first time after beating AS Roma 3-0. The Ukrainian champion advanced 6-2 on aggregate after goals from Tomas Huebschmann, Willian and Eduardo da Silva.
There was also a sending off in Ukraine. Roma defender Philippe Mexes was dismissed in the 41st after being shown two yellow cards for fouls on Luiz Adriano.
"We had a very good preparation for this match," Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said. "We were well organized and after we've scored the first goal, Roma didn't exist for us anymore. We won the match because we deserved it."
Roma was never going to win the competition and its exit allows new coach Vincenzo Montella to concentrate on trying to propel the sixth-placed side further up in Serie A.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
