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Paris Saint-Germain fell, Real Madrid fell, Atlético Madrid fell, but not Barcelona. No surprise this time, not even for Lyon, who saw Lionel Messi return again and again, as they knew well, but could not prevent him from putting them in the sword.
Before the match, Bruno Génésio had talked about the limitation of the influence of Messi, then a player who, according to him, "is almost impossible to stop at this level of performance and motivation." At that time, the Lyon coach had watched the Argentines score two goals and score two goals for Ousmane Dembélé and Gérard Piqué, while the impressive impressive Luis Suárez made it another for Philippe Coutinho.
The dashboard showed 5-1, so it was perhaps odd to think that briefly there had been nerves; at 2-0, Lyon scored and momentarily matched. "For an hour, we showed that we could compete with them: they had a lot of doubts," insisted Genesio. And yet, Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde had the right to point out that "the feeling of fear was greater than the number of real chances they created," and Messi can not compete. When he accelerated to reactivate his team, the team withdrew once again and finally, Barcelona qualified for the quarter-finals after a good overall performance.
Messi and Coutinho had merged but could not reach Suárez after two minutes. A minute later, the same three met again. Anthony Lopes repelled Messi's shot. next time, Ivan Rakitic had his blocked. And although Tanguy Ndombele's efforts slipped three minutes later, Barcelona was leading, the pbad was fast and accurate, the pressure was strong, Valverde rightly said later: "We produced a first half unbelievable; we could have had a bigger lead. "
Barcelona has particularly progressed on the left, where Jordi Alba has gone on the outside and Coutinho has come in, much more involved than recently, his touch badured, his teammates at hand, Suárez in particular . Behind them, Sergio Busquets, Arthur and Ivan Rakitic took control and Messi threatened. He found Lopes dipping at his feet after 13 minutes and opened the mark two minutes later. He had also played the pbad that led to it, Suárez running down the area. The Uruguayan admitted that he stomped on the defender's leg and lost his balance, the questionable decision, but the challenge of Jason Denayer was not quite subtle. Messi's finish was: he drank in a sweet Panenka.
The number of strokes increased: it would reach 14 at half-time. Coutinho collided with Lopes who sat for three or four minutes under the supervision of doctors. He was clearly stunned, but he first chose to continue, and by the time he had left in tears, he had conceded another. Suárez picked up Arthur's perfect pbad and brilliantly moved his weight to slip between two defenders and put it on a plate for Coutinho. . "Statistics will show that he did not score because he gave it to Coutinho," said Valverde, "but he produced a great match – he does not need to score . "
The substitute goalkeeper from Lyon, Mathieu Gorgelin, came in and, like the man he replaced, saw Barcelona coming. He made a superb save against Messi when Busquets played it without fail and the second period then began with a Messi attack on him and then see him cleared from the line. At that time however, Lyon took a step forward and this became a contest when a series of relaxed heads in the Barcelona area came to an end and Busquets failed to erase. Lucas Tousart controlled the chest and pbaded Marc-André ter Stegen. Nabil Fekir then hit wide and Memphis Depay, in the bend at the bottom of Barcelona's penalty area, could not get a frank contact.
But that's when Messi leaves. "Football is also about emotions and one of the fundamental things about it is the feeling it conveys to us, to our fans and to our opponents," Valverde said. A deep race, done alone, creating a dynamic, acted like a clarion call: Messi, hyperactive now, brought them back into the game. Two other races actually ended him. Twelve minutes from the end, he went there, turned right, then left, again, a mannequin returning Denayer in the wrong direction and Marcelo sliding on the ground. While falling, Messi guided the ball of the right foot in the lower corner.
He was not finished yet. Another time, he began to roll from the center line, slow down, regain speed and play the ball at the far post where Piqué slipped to score. And yet another saw him leave one last time, Lyon backing out of fear, and running to Dembele to score the fifth goal. Spain still has something to say in the debate on the Champions League.
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