Messi scores twice against Čech, Bayern draw against Juventus in Champions League Last 16

Wednesday, February 24, 2016 

Football

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Yesterday, in the Last 16 round of the UEFA Champions League 2015–2016, Spanish football club FC Barcelona defeated London-based club Arsenal F.C. 2–0 — Lionel Messi scoring both of those at the Emirates Stadium. Munich based club Bayern Munich were held to a 2–2 draw against Italian club Juventus FC in the Juventus Stadium.

UEFA Champions League logo.

	Barcelona is a great team[...] We put a lot of energy in the game and technically we were very average.
—Arsène Wenger

At London, Barcelona had a greater ball possession against The Gunners. The match saw two yellow cards. Unbeaten in their last 32 games, Barça was not able to net goals for more than an hour. Arsène Wenger's team Arsenal held the defending champions, and it took 49 minutes for the Catalonians to have one shot on target. In the 71^st minute, Barcelona won the ball and began counter-attacking, where Messi–Suárez–Neymar, the MSN trio, broke the deadlock as the Argentine Messi scored his first goal against Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech.

In the 83^rd minute, Mathieu Flamini who was just subbed in brought the Argentine down in the penalty area and the visitors won a penalty. Messi scored second of the night leaving the English side in an uphill battle. Arsenal has been eliminated for five consecutive times in the Last 16. After the match, Wenger told BT Sport "Barcelona is a great team[...] We put a lot of energy in the game and technically we were very average."

Barcelona in their last 33 unbeaten games has netted 100 goals. Arsenal is to play the second leg at Camp Nou on March 16.

In the other fixture of the night, Bayern Munich and Juventus, the Germans had better ball possession. Thomas Müller and Arjen Robben opened the scoring and the visitors were 2–0 up netting in the 43^rd and the 55^th minute. But after the hour mark, Paulo Dybala and Stefano Sturaro scored the equaliser for Juventus in the 63^rdand the 76^th, and the first leg was held to a 2–2 draw when Munich was playing away from home. The match saw four bookings, three for the visitors.

Juventus continued their unbeaten streak of now seventeen home matches in the European competition; they faced their last defeat in 2013 against Bayern Munich.

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Sources[edit]

• James Masters. "Champions League: Lionel Messi strikes as Barcelona beats Arsenal" — CNN, February 23, 2016
• "Magical Messi casts spell over Arsenal in Barça win" — UEFA, February 23, 2016
• "Juventus fightback frustrates Bayern" — UEFA, February 23, 2016
  

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