Arsenal defender, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Johan-Djourou-c18779 aims to stop Barcelona’s striker Lionel Messi from scoring
Arsenal defender, Johan Djourou, has claimed that he will put his best efforts into keeping Barcelona’s talismanic striker, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296, quiet in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League knock out round at Nou Camp.
Djourou said, “I think we made it hard for him at the Emirates. He always had people next to him and you need to keep them under pressure. We have to show the same focus and communication at the back - we learned from last year and showed a lot of character.
We just want this so much and this team can achieve something great. Even if we are down we will continue fighting to the final whistle.”
The 24-year-old centre back was exceptional in Arsenal’s first leg win over Barcelona at Emirates Stadium three weeks ago. Djourou has formed a formidable defensive partnership with the club’s new signing, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Laurent-Koscielny-c21742. Arsenal’s centre-halves put on
an extraordinary performance against Barcelona and managed to keep Lionel Messi off the score sheet.
The Gunners’ only conceded one goal in the first leg, when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629 scored from outside the penalty box after collecting Messi’s through-ball. However, Arsenal bounced back in an empathetic fashion and turned the one goal deficit to 2-1 win at Emirates.
Lionel Messi is one of the biggest threats to Arsenal’s UEFA Champions League hopes. The Argentinean could not score against Arsenal at Emirates last season but netted four goals in the second leg at Nou Camp and ended the Gunners’ Champions League dream
singlehandedly in their previous meeting.
Messi, who is the Spanish Premier League’s top goal-scorer, was not at his best against Arsenal and his recent poor performances in all competitions shows that the Argentinean striker is facing a dip in form.
The 23-year-old, who was named FIFA Player of the Year for the second consecutive time this year, has scored 43 goals and provided 21 assists in 39 appearances in all competitions. However, Messi has failed to reignite his goal scoring form in recent matches
and the striker has only managed to score only once in his last three matches.
Tags: