Barcelona and Lionel Messi: Can Anyone Stop Football's Freight Train?

Bayer Leverkusen's fate was sealed the moment they drew Barcelona and Lionel Messi in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

You almost wondered if it was worth playing the tie at all. Leverkusen are in the midst of a flailing season in Germany, and morale wouldn't be helped by a public humbling at the feet of Europe's most indiscriminate tiki-taka torturers.

Meanwhile, Barca have their own domestic matters to attend to. Real Madrid are running away with La Liga, and Pep Guardiola's men could have used a week off to pass a few training balls to death without the hassle of 11 overly attentive Germans trying to bite their ankles off.

It's hardly the Valentine's Day spirit, but perhaps they should have called the whole thing off. Barca could have been awarded a 2-0 aggregate win, and the football world would have witnessed less suffering along the way.

Cynical in the extreme, but there was no escaping the sense of inevitability in the build-up to the first leg in Germany on Tuesday night. We'd seen it so many times before. We knew exactly what was coming. Get it over with already.

And so it was.

Leverkusen were soundly beaten 3-1 by Guardiola's pass masters, and the Germans will go to Camp Nou with a mountain to climb—though most are expecting an avalanche. Don't say they haven't been warned.

As ever with Barca, the stats were dizzying. The European champions enjoyed 72 percent of the possession overall, a number that hit 78 percent in the first half. They completed 769 of 860 attempted passes, compared to Leverkusen's 175 of 280.

The most remarkable thing to consider is that the Blaugrana were some way from their best, yet still they scored three times on the road and gave a footballing lesson.

Guardiola's team certainly took a while to gain forward momentum on a wet and cold night at the BayArena. Passes pinged this way and the other, but Barca looked subdued and short on inspiration.

Perhaps it was the hangover from a shock defeat to Osasuna.

"We had a few chances in the first half, but perhaps the final pass was missing," said Guardiola.

The exception came with Lionel Messi's sublime flick through for Alexis Sanchez on 41 minutes, who turned on the afterburners and slotted through the goalkeeper's legs to put Barca ahead.

Messi had spent most of the first half warmed by a blanket of black and red shirts, but with the covers off he only needed a fraction of a second to change the game. Such patience and focus is the key to both his genius and his influence.

For the impressive Sanchez, it was his first Champions League goal, and the Chilean flier would help himself to a second when Cesc Fabregas played can opener later on.

Between those goals came an unexpected moment of joy for Leverkusen, who briefly ignited hopes of an even contest when Michal Kadlec headed home early in the second half.

Hang on a second, we thought. But soon enough Sanchez regained the lead for Barca, and football's world order was well and truly restored when Dani Alves set up Messi for a richly deserved third.

Leverkusen were not without their chances, but in adopting a more positive approach in the second half, the Germans left themselves vulnerable and were ultimately picked off.

"Our defense was very good in the first half, but we showed them too much respect and didn't move enough," said Leverkusen coach Robin Mutt.

“In the second half it was a completely different story. During the break I asked my players whether they wanted to participate or whether they wanted be the audience. In the second half we caused Barcelona some real problems."

That they did, but a good deal less than they faced in their own defensive third. And therein lies the great dilemma when you play Barcelona.

If you concentrate your energies on defending, they'll eventually break you down. If you go for the jugular, they'll go for yours with a sharper blade. If you try and set a high line and hurry them into mistakes, as Real Madrid have, it's nearly impossible to maintain the necessary tempo.

And then there's Messi.

Surround him as Leverkusen did the first half, and even if you stop him scoring, you gift space to others. Treat like him another player on the field and he'll tear you to pieces.

The irrepressible Argentine is still just 24, yet with his volleyed finish in Germany he became the Champions League's record scorer in the knockout stages—surpassing Raul and Andrey Shevchenko. It was his 37th goal of the season, and his 28th in his last 29 Champions League starts for Barcelona.

Continue at this rate, and Messi will end his career where many have him already—as the best player the game has seen.

But this is football, a sport where luck and timing have created for many an all-conquering force in the past. Barcelona are the best team in the world and Messi the best player, but no team is unbeatable. And as their results in Spain have proved, Barca can be broken.

Guardiola's team are certainly vulnerable away from home. They've lost two and drawn five of their 11 road games in La Liga this season, and experts who follow them every week will tell you they're a diluted power away from Camp Nou.

If any team is to derail their Champions League campaign before the final, taking advantage of that weakness is vital. Leverkusen's chance is gone, but the team that plays Barca next might well hope for an away first leg. Then somehow aim to hold on at Camp Nou, and anything is possible.

Most important of all is taking your chances. You don't get many against Barcelona, but had Madrid had their shooting boots in their meetings this season, the El Clasico rivalry would have less of a one-sided feel to it.

No team is going to outplay Barca this season, but whoever faces them next would be advised to adopt an approach somewhere between those employed by Leverkusen in the first and second halves.

A healthy respect twinned with a fearless sense of adventure. Go too far either way and you'll get battered. Get it right and you might just put the cynics in their place for once.

Tactically, you need to force the agenda on the flanks and set a high tempo to disrupt Barca's rhythm. You need to accept you won't have much of the ball, but when you do have it, get it forward quickly and put a potentially vulnerable back four under pressure at every opportunity.

Whatever you do, there's still a good chance you'll get beaten 4-0.