#4 Arsenal (6/4/2010)
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Perhaps Messi’s best European performance was reserved for the second leg of the 2010 quarter-final against Arsenal. Barca had been held 2-2 in the first leg and seemed in real trouble when Nicklas Bendtner of all people put the Gunners into the lead at Camp Nou. The English side’s lead lasted only three minutes before the Argentine intervened.
Again it was a move that started on the right and saw the attacker cut inside with an incisive dribble. On this occasion, his pass was not accurate, yet Mickael Silvestre’s failure to control the ball saw it ping back out to the forward, who smacked it with outrageous power past Manuel Almunia and into the top corner. Not only did it prove that Messi is not all finesse, it turned the course of the tie and three more goals from the magical forward would follow in a 4-1 win.
