UEFA Champions League action on Tuesday saw two big matches between some of the top European teams left in the competition, with Barcelona taking on Arsenal, and Juventus facing Bayern Munich.
Barcelona travelled to London to face Arsenal in the first leg of their last 16 tie, and the Gunners did well to suffocate a typically uncontrollable Barca attack in the first half, with the Spaniards unable to get a shot on goal during the first 45 minutes.
Arsenal continued to do well in defence, but a determined Barcelona would eventually break through with their little Argentinian maestro finding the opening goal in the 72nd minute. A quick counter attack saw Neymar on one of his typical runs before passing to Lionel Messi, who finished with composure to cancel out the great defensive work that the Gunners had put in.
Messi would make it 2-0 in the 83rd minute, as he converted a penalty kick past Petr Cech after the striker was brought down by Mathieu Flamini. The match ended with that scoreline, and it sets up a difficult return leg for Arsenal in Spain, where they will not be expected to earn the win they will need to progress to the quarter-final.
Bayern Munich travelled to Italy in a battle of the Italian and German league champions for their first leg encounter.
Thomas Müller put Bayern ahead in the match, after pressure on Gianluigi Buffon’s goal finally led to a breakthrough for the Germans in Turin.
A 1-0 half time score would be made worse for the home side when an excellent run and finish from Arjen Robben beat Buffon to make it 2-0.
But Juventus would find the strength they needed to mount a comeback, with Pablo Dybala and Marco Sturaro scoring goals to give the Bianconeri a glimmer of hope going into the second leg in Germany.
A 2-2 score means that the Germans have two valuable away goals, but Juve know what they will need to do in Munich in the return leg if they are to progress to the quarter-finals of the competition.
