Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Barcelona -- 2nd Leg (5-1 Barca lead)

Evens. I actually feel like a thief betting on something so clearly out of line

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My bump of the Messi thread revived his goal scoring form.


You can thank me for your side leading you Fine Shagger.

48 goals in just 46 games. Apparently impressive? Europeans will have to tell me so..

Yours too Rei

And Kyro I hope you aren't expecting payment

Unless you say "Torres won't score" for me.

Ok scrap that, not even you can jinx him into scoring from the bench

Afellay has looked good in this game. He won't displace anyone on the Barcelona squad, but it looks like he will be useful when called upon.

Willian gets to the touch line, and sends a cross in, but after a moment of hesitancy, Barca clear.

But is that a sufficient enough role for him? I don't think he wants that.

Probably not, but he had to know that when he went there.

What a save by Pyatov. Great run by Messi, lays it off to Afellay, who tried to curl one to the far post, but Pyatov makes the save.

Pique and Xavi off....surprised to see that Messi is still on the field.

No one has scored yet?

Messi did!

Another huge save from Valdes. Henrik Mkhitaryan with the shot, but Valdes makes another one handed save.

And Villa comes off for Jeffren. Which means Messi will play the last 15 minutes. Surprising.

Moreno should have scored there... went for the volley instead of the header though.

Game.

Shakhtar 0-1 Barcelona (Messi 43')

6-1 Barcelona on aggregate.

Messi always plays the 90, then Barca say they're worried about him being burnt out

Scuba Steve wrote:Pique and Xavi off....surprised to see that Messi is still on the field.

Really? I don't recall him being subbed off in a very long time. Pep has some balls to risk his most prized asset like that.

I know he doesn't get subbed off often, but the fact that the game was well over with, coupled with the upcoming games, I figured he would have been relieved of his duties for the day.

Yeah. It really annoyed me when Pep brought Messi on with 15-20 minutes left in the second leg of a Copa del Rey tie that Barca had in the bag. I don't recall which match it was. He just really loves keeping Messi on the field. I'm surprised Messi can still maintain a goal ratio of over 1.0 considering how many matches he plays in.

messi would play 90 minutes every day he just loves playing