Lionel Messi has hailed Barcelona’s away victory against Arsenal in the first leg of the last-16 tie in the Champions League.The Argentine forward scored twice in the second half, including a penalty, to help the champions move closer to becoming the first team to lift the European Cup in successive seasons since AC Milan in 1989 and 1990.
“It was a very good result against a great team, who have some really good players. I’m delighted with the result,” the club’s official site quoted Messi as saying after the match at the Emirates Stadium.”We’ve played Arsenal several times and we know what they are capable of doing. Arsenal did very well in the first half, with some help, but we knew they wouldn’t be able to keep that pace up all the way.”In the second half, we had more space and that’s how we got the first goal.”The clinical win puts the Catalans on the brink of a quarterfinals berth but Messi thinks it is not yet done and dusted.”The tie is not over but we’ve got two away goals, and that’s not easy to do. At the Camp Nou, we‘ll go out to win, as we do at every ground.”
