Barça delights the Camp Nou (4-0)

Barça delights the Camp Nou (4-0)

Barça completely destroyed Bayern Munich tonight and now look firm favourites to progress to the semis of the Champions League. The goals – all scored in the first half – came from Messi (2), Eto'o and Henry.
This time Barça carried their brilliant league form into Europe and repeated something they have done often in La Liga and destroyed their opponents in the first half. The Barça performance deserves even more credit considering the quality of the opponent (despite some injury problems in defence) and the fact that until tonight Barça had never beaten Bayern Munich. A scintillating first half – much to the delight of a pulsating Camp Nou – saw Barça reach the break with a 4-0 lead (Messi (2), Eto'o and Henry). The second half was almost inevitably a quieter affair but Barça kept control of the game and avoided conceding an away goal.

Celestial music

The noise in the Camp Nou was deafening a full 10 minute before kick-off as the crowd celebrated the debut performance of a new anthem to the Club, ‘Barça, estoy boig per tu' (I’m crazy about you). But the music didn’t stop here. The fans had hardly settled in their seats when Henry was denied an opening goal by Demichelis. Barça’s first goal came just moments later thanks to a magnificent move that ended in Messi’s well placed shot (min 8).

High tension

Messi was also involved in Barça’s second goal of the night this time as provider for Eto'o, who fired under Butt’s legs (min 12). Bayern were looking punch-drunk as wave after wave of Barça players laid siege to the German penalty area. The atmosphere in the stadium became even more intense when English referee Howard Webb ignored a clear penalty for Barça and instead booked Messi for diving. Coach Pep Guardiola was sent off for protesting (min 17).

The Henry show

There was a momentary lull in the proceedings in the 24th minute after a collision between Henry and Butt. The French striker soon recovered and flew past fullback Oddo to set up an easy chance for Messi to tap into an empty net (min 37). The Thierry Henry show continued and just before half time the roles were reversed. Messi wove past several defenders to supply a justly merited goal for Henry, and Barça’s fourth.

Total Control

After the break, Barça maintained their concentration and retained control of the match, though the pace of proceedings slowed down. A joint effort between the woodwork and Bayern keeper Butt denied Messi his hat trick (min 59). As Barça pressed hard a fifth goal seemed highly probable while for the visitors only Ribery showed any signs of life. Iniesta almost ignited the Camp Nou (min 77) and Keita also had his chance at close range but lacked accuracy. Finally, having done the job at the other end, Barça focussed on keeping a clean sheet. A fantastic performance which leaves FC Barcelona very close indeed to a place in the semi-finals.