On 8 March 2011 Barcelona hosted Arsenal in the second leg of their 2010-11 Champions League knock-out tie. The English visitors held a 2-1 advantage from the first game, meaning that Barcelona needed to score in order to have any chance to progress to the quarter-finals.
Barcelona utterly dominated the first half, the Arsenal goalkeeper Almunia made a number of good saves and Messi had a certain penalty denied by the referee who was standing only a few yards away. Arsenal were riding their luck but as half time approached they had prevented Barca from finding the goal they needed.
The goal came from an ill advised back heel by Arsenal's former Barcelona youth team player Cesc Fabregas which ceded possession to Andrés Iniesta who dinked the ball through to Messi who played kick-ups over the goalkeepers head before tapping into the empty net.
In the second half Arsenal scored an equaliser through an own goal, allowing them to repeat Chelsea's remarkable 2005 achievement of scoring at the Nou Camp without achieving a single shot on target in the whole game. Robin Van Persie was then sent off for petulance before Barcelona found the two goals they needed to secure their progression to the quarter-finals.
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