Facing the game’s most fearsome attacking trio, Arsenal held on for 70 minutes of Tuesday’s clash with Barcelona. However, Lionel Messi could not be held down for Tuesday’s entire UEFA Champions League clash.
Messi broke the deadlock in the 70th minute of Tuesday’s clash with Arsenal, leading Barcelona to a 2-0 victory over the English Premier League contenders at the Emirates. The away goals give Barca a major advantage heading into the return leg, which is set for March 16 at the Camp Nou.
Following a spell of Arsenal possession, Barcelona finally broke loose in the 71st minute on a counter attack featuring its trio of attacking stars. After receiving the ball just inside his own half, Neymar darted into the Arsenal half before combining with Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan played in Neymar before the Brazilian squared it to an onrushing Messi, who took a touch before slotting the ball past Petr Cech for the game’s first goal.
In the 83rd minute, Messi popped up yet again by drawing a penalty on Mathieu Flamini for a foul in the Arsenal box. The Argentine stepped up and buried the ensuing spot kick to seal the 2-0 victory heading into the second leg.
JUVENTUS ERASES TWO-GOAL DEFICIT AGAINST BAYERN
Down two goals in the second half, Juventus completed a major comeback to keep their Champions League hopes alive.
Goals from Paulo Dybala and Stefano Sturaro earned the Italian champions a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich on Tuesday in Turin. Having netted the two away goals, Bayern will now host Juventus at the Allianz Arena on March 16.
Shortly before halftime, Bayern opened the scoring through Thomas Muller on a 43rd-minute finish. Arjen Robben doubled the advantage just 10 minutes into the second half, as the Dutchman cut inside in trademark fashion before firing past Gianluigi Buffon.
Dybala kick-started the Juve comeback in the 63rd minute before Sturaro found the back of the net 13 minutes later to seal a hard-fought tie for the reigning Champions League runners-up.
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What do you think of today’s results? Any chance of an Arsenal comeback? Do you expect Bayern or Juve to go through?
Share your thoughts below.
For some reason, I really hope Juve ends up winning the tie against Bayern.
no comments? Does no one watch european soccer here anymore?
I watch. But there’s better sites than SBI to have a conversation about European soccer (I head over to the SB Nation blogs, like Barca Blaugranes). Here, you’d probably get 15 total comments, on a good day.