Lionel Messi Is Bayern Munich’s Champions League Nightmare For FC Barcelona Quarter-Final Clash

Lionel Messi was in fine form against Napoli on Saturday.

Or at least in the first half.

Whispers claiming that the Ballon d’Or winner has become hell bent on lifting the Champions League for a fifth time in his storied career, they were supported through the vigorous manner in which he took the ball by the horns in the last 16 second leg tie.

The evening beginning 1-1 on aggregate, with Barça nursing an away goal advantage from the two sides’ previous meeting at the Stadio San Paolo on February 25, Clement Lenglet opened the scoring with a bullet header from Ivan Rakitic’s corner on 10 minutes.

But then the captain came to the forefront. Characterizing his dogged determination to rule the continent once more via a rough-and-tumble run in which he went to ground and held off a pack of defenders, he blasted into David Ospina’s bottom left corner to double the Catalans’ account with 23 down on the clock.

Shortly after, Messi then chested down Frenkie de Jong’s delicious cross and converted, but was wrongfully-deemed to have handled the ball in the process.

In any event, he was not done yet and went on to win the penalty that Suarez slotted home to make it 3-0 before also giving a rousing speech in the tunnel before the second half. Demanding his teammates not be “a##holes” and buckle once more like in Rome and at Anfield when Napoli had pulled one back prior to the interval, Messi was quieter in the match’s second installment but still guaranteed safe passage to Lisbon.

On Friday in the quarter-finals, Bayern Munich stand in the way of Quique Setien’s men making further progress and meeting either Manchester City or Lyon in the semis.

And while the Bavarians are among the tournament’s favorites and in scary form after having put seven past Chelsea over two meetings, Messi is their nightmare in the competition, as pointed out by Mundo Deportivo on Monday morning.

Save for the 2013 semi-final when Barça were thumped home and away, the number 10 has generally terrorized them in scoring two in a 2009 first leg clash at this current stage of the tournament in Pep Guardiola’s fabled first season.

Then, in 2015, once more on the road to the treble, he produced one of European club soccer’s most memorable moments when dribbling past Jerome Boateng and netting the second of another brace in a late 3-0 win.

On the cusp of the weekend, in a new one-and-out format where anything can happen, Culers worldwide hope that Messi can pull something similar out of the bag and put the Blaugrana just two matches away from glory.