UCL round-up: History maker Messi the difference for Barca, nine-man City crash

Andy West 08:40 06/11/2014
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Can’t get near him: Lionel Messi dribbles away from Ajax’s Nicolai Boilesen and Thulani Serero.

    Lionel Messi joined Raul as the all-time leading scorer in the Champi­ons League with both goals in Bar­celona’s victory over Ajax.

    The Argentine’s finishing proved the difference in an otherwise closely contested encounter, send­ing Barca into the knockout stage and preventing the hosts from pro­gressing.

    But it might have been very different because Ajax were the superior team in the opening half hour and could easily have taken the lead.

    After soaking up early pressure, Barca finally managed their first shot when the otherwise anony­mous Luis Suarez had a long-range strike deflected wide, before a defence-splitting pass from Messi released the onrushing Jordi Alba whose shot was well saved by Jas­per Cillessen’s right foot.

    The attack ended with a free-kick which Messi whipped goalwards and Cillessen parried, but the ball was never fully cleared.

    When it eventually came back into the box, Cillessen lost a chase against Marc Bartra and the defender’s hook back across goal allowed Messi to nod into the unguarded net.

    Barca completed their scoring with fourteen minutes remaining as Messi ran on to a superb pass from Pedro to stab home the ball from close range. 

    Messi will now have a chance to overtake Raul as the all-time top goalscorer in the competition when Barca travel to APOEL on November 25 – a day before Ronaldo’s Real Madrid take on Basel. 

     Fernandinho and Yaya Toure were sent off as Manchester City crashed to a damaging 2-1 loss to CSKA in the Champions League.

    The pair were both dismissed in the second half as City struggled to get back into last night’s Group E contest they were anxious to win to revive their campaign.

    Seydou Doumbia was again City’s nemesis, following up his influen­tial role in last month’s 2-2 draw in Moscow with both CSKA goals.

    His Ivory Coast team-mate Toure had cancelled out his first with a superb free-kick – but City again lacked spark in Europe’s elite competition.

    The result left them with just two points from four games and bottom of the group.

    City could have had two penal­ties in the dying minutes but Ser­gio Aguero, denied two spot-kicks in Sunday’s Manchester derby, was twice refused again.

    Aguero was twice denied by Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. But soon the visitors were back in front. City were caught out again when Clichy gave the ball away and Natcho teed up Doumbia again after 34 minutes. Again his finish was clinical as he clipped the ball inside Joe Hart’s near post.

    City’s night went from bad to worse as Fernandinho walked just 24 minutes after com­ing on. The Brazilian, booked min­utes earlier for a foul on Dzagoev, was penalised again for blocking Musa on the edge of the area.

    Toure soon followed him. His run was blocked by Roman Eremenko but the City man raised his hands to shove him away. He had been booked but the referee showed a straight red.

    Frank Ribery and Mario Gotze were on target as Bayern Munich beat Roma 2-0 to clinch top spot in Group E and a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

    Elsewhere, Chelsea must wait to confirm their spot after Eden Hazard missed a late penalty in their 1-1 draw with Maribor. Nemanja Matic cancelled out Agim Ibraimi’s opener before Hazard was thwarted by keeper Jasmin Handanovic.

    Sporting Lisbon ensured it remained a three-way fight behind Chelsea with a 4-2 win over Shalke.

    In Group H, Jackson Martinez and Yacine Brahimi scored as Porto clinched their last-16 berth with a 2-0 win at Athletic Bilbao. Shakhtar are favourites to join them after Luiz Adriano scored three in their 5-0 win over BATE. 

    Edison Cavani hit the only goal as PSG beat APOEL 1-0. 

    Recommended