Barcelona were far, far too good for United tonight. United might’ve made it a more interesting night had they taken their chances in the opening minutes, but once Messi picked the ball up and spirited home that first goal, it was a matter, not of how but how many. He is unfathomably, humiliatingly, inspirationally, epochally wonderful, and we are honoured to be living in his time.
Manchester United’s Champions League run ended in the quarter-finals as Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona to a crushing victory in the second leg at the Nou Camp.United, trailing 1-0 from the first leg, started brightly but were then undone by brilliance from Messi and a glaring mistake from goalkeeper David de Gea.
Goal! That was a fantastic finish by Lionel Messi (Barcelona) from just outside the box. He wasted little time in getting away a bullet of a shot that flew past the goalkeeper into the bottom left corner of the net.
Goal! Lionel Messi (Barcelona) finds some space for a shot from the edge of the box and his attempt goes low inside the right post. Fantastic finish.
Messi put the hosts ahead with a fine curling effort from 20 yards in the 16th minute and four minutes later De Gea let a weaker shot from the edge of the area squirm under his body for the Argentine’s second.Philippe Coutinho added a third for Barca in the 61st minute, curling a stunning effort into the top corner from distance.Alexis Sanchez’s diving header, which was spectacularly saved by Barca goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen in the 90th minute, was as close as the visitors came in the second half.
It was a sobering night for United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the ground where he scored his most famous goal, the stoppage-time winner in the 1999 Champions League final.Barca now meet either Liverpool or Porto in the semi-final, with the Reds taking a 2-0 lead into Wednesday’s second leg.
Then De Gea, so often United’s star player, made a huge mistake by allowing Messi’s tame shot from 20 yards to slip under his body and in.Unlike in the first leg, Barcelona looked as though they could could cut their opponents open at will.Messi was at the centre of that attacking threat with Jordi Alba also marauding forward from left-back and the Barcelona midfield outplaying their United counterparts, both in terms of their control of the ball and pressing to win it back.
Messi’s double took his goals tally to 45 in 42 games this term and made him the outright top scorer in this season’s Champions League.It was yet more success for the Argentine at United’s expense, having also scored against them in both the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals.The home fans chanted Messi’s name again and again during the game, but his performance was not just about his goals.He amazed the jubilant fans in first-half stoppage time when turning Phil Jones on the halfway line, driving towards the area, and beating Jones twice more before feeding Alba down the left. Alba then crossed for Sergi Roberto but De Gea blocked the Spaniard’s close-range shot on the goal line.