Going into their second leg at Camp Nou with Bundesliga side Bayer 04 Leverkusen, the facts and stats were already bagging Barcelona for the win. In the past four years, to suggest Barca have been off-form at any time would be irrational: in their past 28 Champions League games, they’ve averaged 2.5 goals per game, scoring at least one in every tie, and furthermore, despite their evermore attacking side and tactics, this season adopting a three man defence for the majority, their backline has been as tight as ever, conceding just 1.57 shots on target per game.
If there is any saving grace for a team hoping to get the better of Barcelona, it would be Victor Valdes’ shots on target to save ratio. At the mid-point of the Barclay’s Premier League, the worst shots-to-save ratio was 52% held by Paul Robinson: in the Champions League, Victor Valdes’ is just 55%.
Seemingly, there was all but nothing in Leverkusen’s favour and perhaps it was therefore no surprise that the Catalan giants expressed such dominance. Going into the tie, Barcelona had won their last nine home games against German opposition – tonight was no different. Furthermore, Leverkusen had lost their last four games against Barca – again, tonight was no different.
The first half was a breeze for the current champions of the Champions League, who’ve won the title four times and are looking for their third in four seasons. The top scorer in the European competition this year, Lionel Messi, who had already scored seven before the game, went into the half-time break with another two to his name.
His first goal saw him time a run, near-on level with the halfway line, to beat the offside trap, leaving him in acres of space to pull away from his closest man, with a quick look over the shoulder and a burst of pace, and confidently chip the ball over a statuesque ‘keeper dumbfounded by the Argentine’s presence. His second was far more modest, yet still of the highest quality: Andres Iniesta shot into space with a spurt of speed, offloaded the ball right to Messi, who cushioned the ball with a magnificent first touch before feinting threefold past his man on the edge of the box and passing the ball into the ‘keeper’s bottom right.
If the ferocity at which Barca started the second half was anything to go by, it was a case of how long and how many. Both were answered as quickly as Messi’s feet as he latched on to another beautifully weighted ball before chipping the ball over the ‘keeper once more, this time with his right foot, for his hat-trick.