Barcelona’s Argentine wizard Lionel Messi stole all the headlines on Wednesday with a record-breaking five-goal haul in the Uefa Champions League, while APOEL made their own history in Cyprus.
Barcelona 7 (Messi 25’, 42’, 49’, 58’, 84’, Tello 55’, 62’) def Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Bellarabi 90’)
While Arsenal almost created Uefa Champions League history on Tuesday in overturning a four-goal deficit, Lionel Messi did break a competition record, becoming the first player ever to score five goals. The Argentine ran riot against a hapless Leverkusen side who simply couldn’t handle his quick feet and trickery. Messi had a hat-trick before 50 minutes were gone and substitute Tello helped out on the scoring front, before the Argentine grabbed his fifth on 84 minutes.
Barca boss Pep Guardiola said: “Tonight we witnessed one of Messi’s most special nights; watching it was like receiving a gift. He deserves to be honoured right now because it’s something really incredible that he is now just seven goals behind [Barcelona’s all-time top scorer] César [Rodríguez] – he’s only 24. It’s not easy to score five goals in a single game and that’s coming from someone who scored 11 in his entire career. If he wants to, he’ll score six one day.”
He added: “The team we were facing tonight eliminated Valencia and only a few days ago beat Bayern Munich; that speaks volumes of our achievement. We have to thank all of the players and the staff at the club.”
Leverkusen boss Robin Dutt said: “Let’s face it, they were simply too strong. Criticism will come and we have to live with it. We weren’t at our best and if you play Barcelona, you need to have a perfect day. We did not give up in the second half, but they were simply too strong.”
He added: “If you are a fan, you must be deeply impressed by Messi today, but me as a coach, I did hope for one of his bad days. They have it all, technique, tactics and team spirit. A perfect performance.”
APOEL 1 (Manduca 9’) def Olympique Lyon 0, APOEL won 4-3 on penalties
The Cypriot club’s dream run in the Uefa Champions League continues into the final eight after they recorded a thrilling penalty shootout win over Lyon. APOEL keeper Dionisios Chiotis was the hero after he saved spot kicks from Alexandre Lacazette and Michel Bastos. Earlier Gustavo Manduca had levelled the tie with a close-range strike after nine minutes. Both sides pushed for a crucial goal to give them the advantage in the tie, but it never came although Manduca was sent off late in the extra-time. In the end it didn’t matter, as APOEL prevailed on penalties.
APOEL boss Ivan Jovanovic said: “This is the most important night in APOEL’s history; a big night for APOEL, the fans and Cypriot football. We never believed that we would be where we are today. But when you have players which so much confidence, then it is possible. When you have a stadium filled with fans like ours, then it is possible. This is fantastic for everyone.”
Lyon manager Remi Garde said: “It was a big disappointment tonight, a setback. APOEL are not a big name, but as we saw, they deserved to be in the last 16 and even the last eight. For me, it’s disappointing. You can imagine that no one is satisfied tonight. However, being depressed won’t move us forwards.”