Messi Scores Double As Barcelona Beats Arsenal In The 1st Leg Of The UCL
It took a moment of magic from Barcelona’s front three to break down Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Barca, playing their seventh game this month and their fourth in the past nine days, looked worn out in the first half of the match. But they knew Arsenal would work extremely hard to press and contain, so they waited patiently and took the steam out of their opponents with two hammer blows late on.
Buoyed by an eye-catching spell before half-time, Barcelona dominated with menace after the break, although they survived a scare when Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved superbly from Olivier Giroud.
Heeding that warning, Luis Enrique’s men upped their level and Messi beat former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech for the first time in seven matches after 71 minutes.
Suarez then struck the post before Messi won and converted an 83rd-minute penalty to leave Arsenal with the steepest of uphill tasks in the Camp Nou return on March 16.
