Messi to the rescue against Spartak Moscow

Leo Messi came to the rescue of Barcelona last night at the Nou Camp stadium in their first match of the group against Spartak Moscow. The Catalans were 1-2 down against the Russian outfit with 71 minutes gone when the little Argentine popped up to save Barca’s face and an embarrassing defeat at the Nou Camp.

That made it 2-2 and Messi wanted more and ten minutes from time he had the crowd of 82,000 at his feet when he struck home his second and Barca’s third. That made it Messi’s fourth brace of goals of the season so far and brings his tally to ten goals – amazing!

The match started off well and seemed to be going according to plan when Christian Tello scored after just 13 minutes to put the Catalans in the lead. Disaster struck when Dani Alves found his own net and then Spartak’s Borges Romulo made it 1-2. This had Barca on the rack for a bit but with Messi on the pitch, anything can happen.

Barca found it difficult to find space and Spartak’s counter attacking was very effective.It was a difficult game for Barca in which they were able to turn the tables on a very good Spartak side.

Leo Messi said after the match:

“It is to our credit that we were able to fight back and win such a complicated game as this”.

“It wasn’t an easy game. We couldn’t find spaces and their forwards were very fast and strong and they played well on the counterattack.”

Messi was having a quiet game and had to find the roaring lion inside him to get Barca out of this fix.Gerard Piqué limped off at 12 minutes with a foot injury making way for ex Gunner Alex Song, who quickly made his way to the Barca defense.

Tito may need to have a quiet word in Dani Alves’ ear who made a fancy back pass to a stunned Victor Valdés who was easily beaten! If he had done this at the other end of the pitch it would have been an awesome goal!

Spartak forced Barcelona narrow in the second half of the match as the Catalans tried to force their way upfield past an extremely well-organised defense. Spartak were also looking to improve on the 1-1 score and did well on the counter attack. Their second goal came on 58 minutes. Goalkeeper Dykan saved a shot by Messi that was converted into a counter attack and after some great passing, the Brazilian Romulo flew past Adriano to beat Valdés at his far post.

One could have been forgiven if they thought that it was Spartak’s day but Barcelona have a secret weapon: Messi.

Tello picked up the ball on 71 minutes minutes and headed for the Spartak defense. He outpaced Aiden McGeady and went for goal but found Messi lurking unmarked who slotted the ball home without any problem.

That made it 2 apiece and Barcelona wanted more. The Argentine out-jumped two defenders to head home a cross from Pedro. Messi’s not the tallest of players but found a way to bewitch six Spartak defenders and score the winner!

it was a game that was won by some gutsy play and determination from the Barca boys. It’s always good to win the first game in the Champions League and Barca put this one to bed, so to speak.