After losing this last weekend against Celta Vigo, Barcelona had one thing in their mind, and that was going to Amsterdam and play Ajax and come back to Spain with a victory. This was also an important game for Lionel Messi to write history as the all time leading scorer of the Champions League. Cristiano Ronaldo failed to accomplish that against Liverpool, and now it was Messi’s turn to try to achieve it.
First twenty minutes of the game, Barcelona dominated and it seem like they will have no problem getting a goal anytime soon. Midway through the first half, Ajax started putting more pressure and were able to cause threat into the Barcelona defense. It was not until the 35th minute when Barcelona was able to score. Messi had a free kick opportunity that was well blocked by the Ajax’s goalie and was rebounded to his right side, where it gave Jordi Alba an opportunity to put that ball across once again. No one was able to control and make contact with the ball, and it went across to Dani Alves who put a through ball in the air to Marc Bartra. Ajax goalie came out and Marc was able to beat him in the air, but the ball crossed to Messi, who beat everyone in the air, was able to put Barcelona on top (1-0) with his 70th goal in Champions League play. At that point he needed one more goal to tie Real Madrid’s legend Raul as the all time scorer in Champions League.
Second half Barcelona kept dominating, and were able to create a few opportunities. In the 70th minute, Messi led a counter attack that put the ball through Ajax’s center backs, and Joel Veltman brought him down with an obstruction. He already had a yellow, and sees a second yellow that leaves Ajax with 10 men on the pitch for the remainder of the match. Five minutes later Ajax panicked in the midfield, and gave the ball away to Barcelona who created a counter attack. Messi got the ball and passed it wide to Pedro, who put the ball back into Messi for the tap in.
With that goal, Barcelona went up 2-0, and managed to pull out a victory, in Amsterdam over Ajax. With that goal, Messi tied Raul as Champions League all time scorer.
This victory puts Barcelona in second place in Group F of the Champions League, one point away from leaders PSG. We will see if this is the beginning of a winning streak for Barcelona, or if they will continue to suffer throughout the rest of the season.
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