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| Barcelona Rips Arsenal Behind Four Goals From Messi |
The trepidation proved justified as Barcelona ripped Arsenal 4-1 to easily take the aggregate score series by a 6-3 margin and advance to the semifinals where they’ll face Italian Serie A side Inter Milan. Lionel Messi lived up to claims that he’s the best soccer player in the world as he exploded for four goals to overwhelm the English defenders. Soccer betting fans that tipped Barcelona to win as hefty -250 home favorites cashed tickets with the victory. Arsenal was priced as a +750 underdog to prevail in the contest, with odds for a draw posted at +400. The 5 combined goals went well OVER the posted total of 2’. Barcelona is the defending Champions League champion and will now be favored to repeat. The evening started on a promising note for the visitors, as Nicklas Bendtner took a pass from Theo Walcott and put the ball behind Barcelona goaltender Victor Valdes to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead. From that point, they were simply dominated by Messi and Barcelona. Messi evened the score just three minutes later after a botched clearing attempt, drilling the ball into the side of the net. Messi was just getting warmed up at that point, and he gave the Spanish La Liga front runners a 2-1 lead after teammate Pedro collected another poorly defended ball and set up his teammate in the penalty area. Messi would add another goal just before the halftime break and would score his fourth late in the game to complete the 4-1 blowout victory. Afterwards, Arsenal manager Arsne Wegner could only praise his opponents’ superior skill: "I believe that we lost against a team that is better than us and have the best player in the world. Congratulations to Barcelona - they were better than us. Over two games, for a team like Arsenal, we conceded cheap goals. They didn't have to work hard enough. When you have players like Messi, any mistake you can pay for it.'' The Gunners have suffered a spate of injuries lately, most significantly losing captain Cesc Fabregas for the season with an Achilles’ tendon tear. They’ll now turn their focus back to the Premier League, where they’re currently in third place trailing Manchester United by one point and league leading Chelsea by three points. 
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Arsenal and Barcelona fought to a 2-2 draw in the opening leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, but with action shifting to Spain for the second game the English Premier League entrant faced a tough task.
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