Lionel Messi 4, Arsenal 1

April 6, 2010 - PRLog -- The Argentine prodigy scored four goals in Barcelona’s win, which put the Catalan team in the semi-finals for the third straight year.

Adjectives are hard to find when talking about Messi, but here are the facts. The Argentine scored all of Barça’s goals in their win at Camp Nou against Arsenal, maintaining Barcelona’s bid for back-to-back Champions League titles.

After the 2-2 draw in England, Arsenal began well, when Bendtner opened the scoring after 17 minutes of play following a counter attack led by Walcott. After this goal Arsenal were fired up for a short time until Messi broke their game-plan and their hearts.

Messi, tied the game three minutes later, capitalizing on a rebound that gave Almunia no chance of defense. By the end of the first half, the Argentine international would still have time to make his 4th hat trick of the season with another two goals: the first, through a collective move by Barça, the second in a beautiful left-foot lob over the stranded Almunia, leaving Barcelona in total control of the game.

In the second half, the Catalans took the foot off the accelerator, as  victory was virtually garanteed, but the thousands who filled Camp Nou  remained attentive hoping to see another wonder goal by Messi. The Argentine did not disappoint them and at 88 min. completed his first four-goal haul with a low drive between Almunia’s legs after leaving three opponents on the wayside.

Barcelona, driven by Messi who is in fantastic form at the moment, is in the semi-finals where they will meet Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan, who had beaten CSKA Moscow 1-0, just a few hours earlier..

Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger, said Barcelona were fair winners of the tie and also talked about the mistakes made by his team, especially after being up 1-0.

“We lost against a team that was better than us, so we congratulate them and wish them good luck for the future. Moreover, they have the best player in the world”, said the Frenchman.

I’m very content, very happy with this win,” Messi said. “I think our team is making history, just like we did last year. It all depends on us.”

Messi equaled Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal count and is now the competition’s top scorer with eight goals and the first player to score four goals in a two-legged series.

“He’s a player of such an incredible level,” said Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola. “There are no words to describe this kind of performance; you just have to see it.”

See Video of all the goals of the Barcelona – Arsenal game below:

More news and information about the 2010 World Cup in South Africa can be found at: http://www.2010-southafrica.com

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