Like thousands in Camp Nou, DOMINIC FIFIELDwatched transfixed at the artistry of the genius Messi
THE PRE-MATCH predictions had been right, if only up to a point. This quarter-final was indeed to be decided by a diminutive forward with a searing burst of pace capable of unnerving the best of back-lines, a player upon whom his nation’s expectations will weigh heavy at the summer’s World Cup finals. Unfortunately for Arsenal and England, Theo Walcott can still only aspire to brilliance this dazzling. This was to be Lionel Messi’s night.
By the interval, all Pep Guardiola’s talk in the build-up – that Walcott was “faster than all my players put together” – felt like bluff, the Spaniard’s version of Jose Mourinho mind games to distract the watching world from the blatantly obvious. When Messi is in this mood he is as unplayable as he is untouchable.
Walcott could have scorched Eric Abidal and left him a gibbering wreck in his slipstream and even done the same to the rest of Barcelona’s reshaped rearguard, but Arsenal would still have been knocked out of the competition by the Argentine.
To gawp at his 21-minute hat-trick here was to acknowledge that even the slightest optimism the Premier League club could have taken from their admirable first-leg comeback was ridiculously misplaced.
The hope the hordes of Londoners carried to Camp Nou was treacherous. Messi might have scored twice in the game’s opening forays. As it was, it took Arsenal’s sheer audacity, in taking a lead on the night, to sting him into a frenzy with which the Gunners could not cope.
The 22-year-old was at the heart of everything Barca mustered, conducting each attack with such panache that those around him revelled in his artistry. Arsene Wenger may have been too agitated, forever turning in exasperation from events on the pitch as if imploring Pat Rice for an explanation for every missed pass, to appreciate the majesty on show.
The visitors had dared to dream here, yet the giddy delight at Nicklas Bendtner’s opening goal was dashed within 120 seconds.
The ferocity of Messi’s shot – a short back-lift and whip – stunned Manuel Almunia for his first, ripping beyond the goalkeeper’s attempt to save after the Argentine had, in effect, played a one-two with Mikael Silvestre.
For the second, the forward had hammered a shot into the side-netting before he slid Abidal into space down the left for the Frenchman to centre. Pedro, benefiting from Thomas Vermaelen’s panicked interception, calmly found Messi as he emerged into the clutter. Pedro might as well have turned and started striding back to the halfway line, so certain was it that his team-mate would expertly create the extra yard of space required before sliding in his second goal. Gael Clichy, despairing as he realised Messi was in possession, could have joined Pedro on the long trudge back.
The third goal was arguably the best, Messi scuttling on to Seydou Keita’s nod down before cheekily flicking his finish over a marooned Almunia, approaching the edge of the area. Messi’s name boomed out, this vast stadium shaking to its very foundations, while Arsenal shivered in his shadow.
His fourth, two minutes from time, hauled him level with Rivaldo as this club’s leading Champions League scorer, with 25 goals.
Messi had missed training last week after going down with a migraine, an affliction that causes some sufferers to be blinded, temporarily, by shimmering white light. Those at the heart of Arsenal’s defence bore all the symptoms.
This was one game too far for Silvestre. Sol Campbell, on the bench with a tight hamstring, must have been relieved to have escaped. For Walcott, it was another false dawn. It may have felt lost amid the glory of all things Messi, but in that brief and long forgotten period when Arsenal had led, the England winger seemed the potential match winner his pre-match billing had demanded.
It had been his burst into the space between Abidal and Gabriel Milito and on to Abou Diaby’s pass that had set up Arsenal’s goal, Walcott squaring unselfishly – and a little riskily – for Bendtner to bundle in at the second attempt.
Yet there was only one player capable of such skill on show here, and his name was bellowed to the heavens long into the night.
Guardian Service
