European Champions League

Arsenal 0 – Barcelona 2

Arsenal: Cech; Bellerín, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Coquelin (Flamini 81‘); Oxlade-Chamberlain (Walcott 50‘), Özil, Alexis Sánchez; Giroud (Welbeck 71‘). 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Bravo; Dani Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Jordi Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar. 4-3-3.

Goals:
0-1. 71. Messi. Steered shot past Cech after Suárez and Neymar set him up.
0-2. 83. Messi (penalty). After Flamini brought down Messi inside the area.

Defending champions Barcelona took a big step towards a place in the last eight after a 0-2 victory at Arsenal on Tuesday night. It was a fast moving game right from the start, although the first real shot at goal didn’t come until midway through the first half, Oxlade-Chamberlain seeing his effort saved by Ter Stegen. Luis Suárez went close a couple of times just before the break though, and Cech had to be at his best to keep out Neymar soon after the restart. Stegen did well to keep out a Giroud header soon afterwards, but with twenty minutes to go Barça took the lead on a quick breakaway, Neymar and Luis Suárez combining to set up Messi for him to finally beat Cech after failing to score against him the previous six times they have met. A few minutes later Luis Suárez hit the post, and with seven minutes to go Messi got his second of the night from the penalty spot after Flamini hacked him down in the area just a minute after coming on for Coquelin. Both keepers made important saves after that, Stegen from Ramsey and Cech from Neymar, but the scoreline remained unmoved.