Messi hits five as Barca embarrass Leverkusen
Reuters - Wednesday 07 March 2012, 23:16
Lionel Messi at his
breathtaking best tore Bayer Leverkusen apart with a record
five-goal Champions League glut on Wednesday as Barcelona swept
into the quarter-finals 7-1 on the night and 10-2 on aggregate.
The Argentine World Player of the Year became the first
player to score five in a Champions League match. Substitute
Cristian Tello scored twice as the holders equalled the biggest
victory margin in the knockout stages of the competition.
Messi, who did not appear to have a bead of sweat on him
after the match at the Nou Camp, took his tally to 12 goals in
seven Champions League appearances this term, equalling the
record for a single season he shares with former Manchester
United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.
All five strikes against a hapless Leverkusen, including
brilliant dinked efforts with either foot, showcased the
stunning skills honed in Barca's youth academy that have won him
the World Player award for the past three years.
"The important thing is what the team did and that we
qualified for the next round," a typically modest Messi said in
a television interview.
"It's nice to score five but winning was the priority,"
added the 24-year-old, clutching the match ball and smiling
shyly.
After they lost last month's round of 16 first leg in
Leverkusen 3-1, the Bundesliga side's mission impossible was
effectively ended when Messi sped on to Xavi's lofted pass and
brilliantly scooped the ball over Bernd Leno in the 25th minute.
He added a second with a trademark run across the defence
and low shot three minutes before half-time and completed his
hat-trick with another stunning chip, this time with his right
foot, four minutes after the break.
Tello netted twice either side of Messi's fourth, which came
after Leno spilled the ball at his feet, and the Argentine
wizard bagged his fifth with a powerful strike six minutes from
time before Leverkusen substitute Karim Bellarabi scored in
added-time.
PURPLE PATCH
Messi has been enjoying a purple patch in recent weeks, even
by his lofty standards, and Wednesday's goals mean he has scored
14 in his last five matches for club and country.
He has netted an astonishing 30 goals in his last 25
Champions League games, including four against Arsenal in 2010,
and has 48 in 42 matches in all competitions this season.
"He is a unique player," Barca coach Pep Guardiola told a
news conference.
"Scoring five goals is not easy but if Leo sets himself the
task of scoring six one day he will certainly do it."
Guardiola's Leverkusen counterpart Robin Dutt cut a lonely
figure on the touch-line in the second half as he watched his
side struggling to compete with the Spanish, European and world
champions.
The aggregate result equalled the biggest Champions League
defeat suffered by a German team after Werder Bremen also lost
10-2 over two legs against Lyon in the 2004/05 season.
"There is no question that a reverse of that magnitude
really hurts," Dutt said. "There are scarcely words to describe
the way Messi plays.
"Barcelona are the best team in the world even without Messi
but with him they are almost in another galaxy.
"We didn't need this evening to prove that Barcelona are the
best team that I have ever seen play.
"I think that all the other teams on the continent have a
great deal of work to do before they can reach the same level."
Despite their team's drubbing, the 4,000 travelling
Leverkusen fans high up in the giant arena remained in fine
voice until the end and Bellarabi's goal was some reward for
their efforts to drown out the 75,000-strong home support
enjoying the exploits of their hero.
Manchester United beat AS Roma 7-1 in the home leg of their
2007 Champions League quarter-final and Bayern Munich crushed
Sporting by the same score in the first knockout round in 2009.