Messi rescues Barcelona from defeat at Chelsea

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Lionel Messi scores the equaliser as Barcelona came from behind to draw 1-1 with Chelsea at Stanford Bridge in a Champions League round of 16 first leg.

Willian opened scoring for Chelsea in the 62nd minute of the game after an assist from Eden Hazard.

The Brazilian had rattled the upright twice with the blunderbuss, this time he found the bottom corner with the sharpshooter.

Willian bought a yard of space on the edge of the box with a little shake-and-bake shoulder drop and then wrapped a low curling shot round a forest of players and past an unsighted Marc Andre ter Stegen to give Chelsea 1-0 lead.

Lionel Messi restored parity on 75 minutes after a defensive error from Chelsea players and he slotted home a good finishing to make it 1-1 and an away goal advantage heading for the second leg at Nou Camp in two weeks time.

It was ruthless from Barcelona as Andreas Christensen’s loose pass across the face of his own goal was intercepted by Andres Iniesta ahead of the stretching Cesar Azpilicueta.

The shot was on for Iniesta, but with the vision of a meerkat, he squared the ball across for Messi who curled low and unerringly into the bottom corner from 15 yards.