Messi has this
mesmerizing ability of taking football artistry to unseen levels, and tonight
was one of those nights in which he lit up the pitch with his speed, thought
and movement. Messi scored twice within four minutes in the first half, and
Coutinho increased Barcelona's goal tally to three in the second half, with a
brilliant goal. Barcelona beat the Premier league side 4-0 on aggregate to earn
a spot at the semi-finals. Messi's first goal came from the edge of the box, in
the 16th minute, and the second in the 20th.
Manchester United goalkeeper, De
Gea, made a blunder that was responsible for Messi's second goal. De Gea should however be
credited for denying Sergi Roberto a goal in first-half stoppage time. Philippe
Coutinho scored Barcelona's third in the 61st minute, curling a stunning effort
into the top corner from 25 yards. Barcelona shall meet either Liverpool or
Porto in the semi-final. Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told BT
Sport after the game: "If you want the result you need a
performance. We started well, created some decent chances but then he (Messi)
hits that in the bottom corner, he’s top quality and he was the difference of
course, 2-0 straight after was game over.
He’s different class him and Cristiano, everyone
agrees on that, tonight he has shown his quality and that’s (Barcelona) the
level we have to aspire to get to we know we’re not there yet we have lots of
work to do, but we can get there.
If we want to get back to Manchester United’s true
level and traditions we have to challenge the Barcelonas, they were a couple of
levels above us.
We want to play these games again next year so we
have a massive week coming up no point dwelling on what could have been it
could have been different if we started better ."
Italian
giants Juventus were kicked out of the Champions League by a young and lively
Ajax side. Even more amazing was Ajax's comeback after Cristiano Ronaldo gave
the Italians an early lead in the first half.
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