A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

There have been many beautiful European nights in the Camp Nou in the history of FC Barcelona. However, there have been few that were sweeter than last night when Barca dismantled Bayern Munich 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions' League semifinal match up.

There was quite a bit of drama leading up to the game. This is because this was the first time Barca's former manager and Bayern's current manager Pep Guardiola had faced his old club. In addition, the last time these two teams met in 2013, Bayern won the tie 7-0 on aggregate between the two games.
It is noteworthy that Lionel Messi, the world's best player, did not participate in those two games versus Bayern in 2013, although he bore witness to those blowouts from the bench.

This time the fans held up signs that said "We Are Ready," and the Barca team clearly brought their "A" game last night.

Early on, Barca were the better side, but they could not put away their chances. Similarly, Bayern missed a great opportunity from close range. At half, the score was 0-0. Despite this, Barca looked the much more dangerous of the two sides, and one felt that it was only a matter of time until the Catalans found a breakthrough.

Unsurprisingly, that breakthrough came from the left foot of Lionel Messi at the 77th minute mark. The play started with a turnover in the Bayern end that was forced by Dani Alves. He then slotted the ball to Messi outside the box, who hammered home his first goal in the knockout round of this year's Champions' League competition. Only four minutes later, Messi followed up with a brilliant attack. This attack began with a feint that left the Bayern defender flat on his back and was followed with a cheeky chip by Messi over the Bayern keeper.

Finally, in the 94th minute, Messi sent a through ball to Neymar, who Neymar made the most of the opportunity. That made the score 3-0, and the referee called time on this match shortly thereafter.

You can watch all the highlights here.

Unsurprisingly, the one statistic that Bayern and Guardiola did "win" was time of possession (53%-47%). However, possessing the ball is not enough to decide a game. Controlled possession is much more important, and Bayern were rarely in control. This was due to the collective effort of our players who harassed the Muncheners all night long. Indeed, despite my description of Messi's and Neymar's heroics, this was match decided by the entire Barca team who did not even allow Bayern a single shot on target.

We will enjoy this European night for a long while, especially since I recorded it with my DVR! However, we will not rest until we finish Bayern off next week and win the remaining 5 games - make that 6 games if we make it to the Champions' League final in Berlin later this month! The Spanish league title and the Spanish Cup also hang in the balance, and we must deftly navigate this competitive tightrope if we are to secure the treble (winning all three trophies).

My money is on Barca who never fail to astound me and who continue to create one beautiful European night after the other.

Visca Barca!