FC Barcelona Vs. Arsenal FC 2011: 1-0 Halftime, Lionel Messi Goal Puts Blaugranas Ahead

Arsenal FC almost got to halftime with the score tied at 0-0 at the Camp Nou. With their 2-1 win at the Emirates Stadium, that score would have been enough to advance. Then, Lionel Messi struck for FC Barcelona. His goal three minutes into first half stoppage time has the Blaugranas up 1-0 at halftime and tied 2-2 on aggregate, but leading on away goals. The Gunners now have a serious uphill battle if they want to advance from the Round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League.

The entire half was a dominant one for Barcelona, but the game really picked up around the 27th minute. However, prior to that, in the 16th minute, Arsenal were forced into a goalkeeper substitution. Daniel Alves took a free kick that Wojciech Szczesny had trouble handling. The Polish keeper injured his finger on the shot, and was forced out of the game. The out of favor Manuel Almunia entered.

Shortly afterwards, a great curling attempt by Pedro missed just wide on the 27th minute, and it signaled the start of a long period of serious dominance for Barcelona. Arsenal weren’t particularly involved in the game to start with, but things got truly problematic at this point.

In the 31st minute, Messi had his highlight of the match to that point with an unbelievable run through four Arsenal defenders before Johan Djourou barely cleared the ball away from him, six yards from goal. Abou Diaby committed an apparent foul on Messi just a minute later, barely outside of the penalty area, but the referee curiously waived play on. The 33rd minute saw David Villa have a weak shot saved, the 34th minute saw Almunia put his team in danger with a bad clearance, and Adriano hit the post in the 36th minute. It was an unbelievably dominant five minutes from Barcelona and a period that would set the tone for what was to come.

Arsenal won a corner kick in the 43rd minute, which was, amazingly, their best attacking chance of the game by far, despite the corner leading to nothing dangerous. This corner would not be a sign of things to come, though, as the next five minutes would be absolute hell for Arsenal in a variety of ways.

The 44th minute saw Jack Wilshere become the victim of a bad foul, from which he thankfully walked away. Robin Van Persie took issue with the foul and started jawing at Eric Abidal, who proceeded to grab his throat. Abidal was not booked. Van Persie responded by shoving Daniel Alves, who dove in an attempt to get Van Persie sent off. The Dutchman only received a yellow card.

In the third minute of first half stoppage time, Barcelona finally got the goal their play deserved, but in truly bizarre fashion. Andres Iniesta provided Lionel Messi with a great assist, but if you’re scoring by ice hockey or old-school Major League Soccer rules, Cesc Fabregas gets an assist as well. The Arsenal captain and Barcelona academy product attempted to backheel a ball to Wilshere deep in his own half, but that ball fell right to the feet of Iniesta. The Barcelona central midfielder played a great chipped ball to Messi, who used some unbelievable skill to beat Almunia and create a tap-in goal for himself, putting his team up 1-0 on the night.

That goal pushes the scoreline to 2-2 on aggregate, with Barcelona leading on away goals. That goal was also Messi’s 32nd in the Champions League, which is a club record for Barcelona.

Arsenal now have their work cut out for them, as they are losing as the result stands, and they have only managed 25% possession in the first half.