Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea: 4 key battles that decided the game

#3 Lionel Messi vs Cesar Azpilicueta

When Messi is in the mood, there are not many who can stop him

It is a hard sell asking any defender to be in-charge of Lionel Messi, but Cesar Azpilicueta has been one of the Premier League's best defenders in the last few years. None of this mattered to the little magician as he danced his way past Cesar Azpilicueta and single-handedly won the tie for his team.

Azpilicueta was not helped in any way by an inexcusably poor Courtois in goal, but he also had a very poor game by his own standards. He was dribbled past by Messi on his way to assisting the second goal for Dembele and he should have marked Leo tighter on the third goal.

It was a bad day for the Chelsea defence as a whole and it is not fair to put the blame on the Spaniard for the goals, but as captain and the side's best defender, Azpilicueta had a lot of expectations on his shoulders.

Messi vs Azpilicueta - stats

It was just unfortunate that he ran into Messi in a marauding mood.