BARCELONA – Barcelona’s Lionel Messi struck twice and set up Neymar in the final 13 minutes as Pep Guardiola’s return to the Camp Nou as Bayern Munich coach ended in a 3-0 defeat in the first-leg of their Champions League semi-final.
On his 100th appearance in European football, Messi’s double moved him back ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo as the all-time leading scorer with 77 in the Champions League and Barca to the brink of their first final in four years.
Manuel Neuer had kept Bayern in the game with a string of fine saves, but was helpless as Messi drilled home the opener from the edge of the area in the 77th minute and then delightfully chipped the German three minutes later.
Messi then fed Neymar in stoppage time to roll past Neuer and hand Bayern an almost impossible task in next week’s second-leg.
Guardiola had described Messi as “unstoppable” in the pre-match press conference and Barca defender Gerard Pique agreed, whilst also heaping praise upon the Catalans’ defence which prevented the visitors from having a single shot on target.