Barcelona: Lionel Messi produces moments of magic to dispatch Lyon

Lionel Messi delivered once again to see Barcelona through to the Champions League quarter-finals.

Fresh from seeing Cristiano Ronaldo score a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid to secure a historical comeback for Juventus that had caused some people to reopen the debate over who is the best player in world football, Lionel Messi put in a top quality performance to reinforce why he is the greatest as Barcelona beat Lyon 5-1.

Going into the second leg, the tie was on a knife-edge due to Barcelona’s inability to score an away goal in a 0-0 draw at the Lyon Olympic Stadium. Realistically they needed to win as a 0-0 draw would have taken them to penalties which is far from ideal and other results would have seen Lyon progress. Camp Nou has been a fortress this season, though, as they have only lost once there all season and they haven’t lost there in the Champions League since 2013.

Messi scored a penalty with a delightful Panenka early on in the first half to settle the nerves after Luis Suarez had been fouled by Jason Denayer. Later on, in the half, Suarez set up Philippe Coutinho for an easy finish after Arthur had delivered a pinpoint ball to his feet and the Uruguayan had turned Fernando Marcal expertly.

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The match looked comfortable at this point as Barca continued to create chances with Messi having a chip cleared off the line by Marcal. However, a period of Lyon pressure in the second half saw Lucas Tousart score a scrappy goal and bring them back into contention. They piled on the pressure but Barcelona didn’t budge and expertly pulled them apart as they started to tire. Messi was pivotal in this as he showed how he can punish teams when he has space to work in.

Sergio Busquets played Messi in behind the opposition midfield as Lyon were in transition after Barcelona had regained possession, he drove intently at the defence before faking a shot that tricked two defenders and cutting on to his other foot from which he was able to fire a shot which Mathieu Gorgelin was only able to push into his net.

Lyon started to push forward in numbers as they had little to lose at this point, but this left opportunities for Barcelona to exploit. Not long after, Jordi Alba launched a quick counter-attack with a precise ball to Messi and he was able to drive into the final third taking the attention of the defence before playing in Gerard Pique at the far post. The Argentine grabbed another assist five minutes later as he played in Ousmane Dembele with a perfectly timed pass after another rapid counter.

This wasn’t one of his best performances by his sky-high standards with fatigue potentially playing a part in this as his dribbling wasn’t quite up to scratch, although this would have still been a top display for most other players. This was a relatively comfortable affair as the team put in a top display overall especially in the first half, but Messi delivered the magic when they needed to pull away from a brave, exciting Lyon side.