Lionel Messi leads Barcelona into Champions League quarterfinals
Anything Wayne Rooney can do, Lionel Messi can do twice as well.
That was the message coming out of Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium Wednesday after Messi, the Argentine star, scored two goals and assisted on another to power defending champion Barcelona to a 4-0 European Champions League victory over VfB Stuttgart in Spain.
Messi, 22, could have netted a hat trick but was denied a third goal by Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann’s superb save as the former German international dived low to his left to make a one-handed stop on Messi’s downward header.
Instead it was left to Pedro Rodriguez and Bojan Krkic to each add a goal and give the Catalan team a convincing 5-1 aggregate win as it swept into the Champions League quarterfinals.
Joining it in the last eight was French champion Bordeaux, which endured a nervous second half Wednesday night before overcoming Olympiakos of Greece, 2-1, in France to earn a 3-1 aggregate victory.
A fifth-minute goal on a free kick by Yoann Gourcuff and an 88th-minute header by Marouane Chamakh did the trick for Bordeaux as the two French internationals led the way for Coach Laurent Blanc’s team.
The victory put Bordeaux into the last eight of Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in 22 years.
Kostas Mitroglou scored for Olympiakos, whose goalkeeper, former Greek international Antonis Nikopolidis, was at fault on both Bordeaux goals.
The draw for the quarterfinals will be held Friday, with Rooney’s Manchester United as well as Arsenal, Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Inter Milan and Olympique Lyon going into the hat along with Barcelona and Bordeaux.
Tense as Bordeaux’s victory was, it was Messi who lit up Wednesday’s play. His two goals brought his season total to 31 in 37 games in all competitions, including eight in his last four games.
“His ability is incredible when you consider his age,” Stuttgart Coach Christian Gross said. “I think it is fair to compare him to [Diego] Maradona.”
Maradona, Argentina’s 1986 World Cup winner and now his country’s coach, will be counting on Messi to continue his fine form at the World Cup in South Africa in June. First, though, is the task of defending Barcelona’s Spanish and Champions League titles.
The other quarterfinalists will have to find a way to do what Stuttgart failed to achieve Wednesday.
“We couldn’t stop Messi in the decisive moments,” Gross said.
“Every great [player] has a tendency to influence his team, like [ Michael] Jordan with the Bulls,” said Barcelona’s basketball-loving coach, Pep Guardiola. “[Messi] is the best. We wouldn’t trade him for anybody.”
Manchester United and England would say the same of Rooney.
