MESSI is not from this planet

Some people were worried after MESSI failed to make an impression at the Emirates Stadium for the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals first leg against Arsenal.

Some others went farther and said he doesn't perform when he is under pressure and that he is not the kind of player a lot of people are suggesting he is.

Well...when Barcelona conceded early and was heading for elimination trailing Arsenal 1-0, Lionel MESSI responded with an incredible hat-trick in just 21 minutes (the fourth fastest in the history of the Champions League -only bettered by Mike NEWELL, Joseba LLORENTE and Marco SIMONE-).

With Barça in control for the rest of the game, they seemed to step off the gas and save some legs ahead of the crucial 'clásico' against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

But...Lio left what was perhaps the most beautiful goal of the night for the last part of the match. In a move that saw him dribble what looked like the entire Arsenal squad of today, plus Tony ADAMS, Sol CAMPBELL and David SEAMAN or whoever the historical figure in the Gunners' history you can think of and slotted the ball between Manuel ALMUNIA's legs for his fourth of the game.

An absolutely dominant performance from MESSI who demolishes the English media argument about Wayne ROONEY being better than him or at a par. There is no doubt whatsoever that MESSI is far superior and he showed them exactly that against an English team (so they had no option but watch him).

Now Barcelona, the defending champions, will face Internazionale in the semifinals.

The Italian giants are hoping to win this competition for the first time since they won it in 1964-65.

Today with an early Wesley SNEJDER goal, they secured their ticket to the big clash against Barcelona and with that, we are guaranteed of at least 2 Argentines playing in the big final at the Bernabeu in May.

Why? Because Barcelona, with MESSI and Gabriel MILITO in their team, will face an Inter side full of Argentines (Walter SAMUEL, Esteban CAMBIASSO, Javier ZANETTI and Diego MILITO). If Barça advance, we've got two Albicelestes in the final, if Inter eliminate them, then we'll have four.

Not only that, this Inter-Barcelona match-up will see the MILITOS squaring up against each other. Like they did when Gabriel used to play for Independiente and Diego was a striker for Racing Club (both teams from the same city of Avellaneda, just South of Buenos Aires).

That early Inter goal completely killed CSKA Moscow and the remaining 84 minutes of the match were pretty dull, with the Nerazzurri keeping the ball and not trying too hard to score a second.

Diego MILITO missed a couple of one-on-ones and was one of the four Argentines in action. He was replaced after 74 minutes by Mario BALOTELLI. The other three (Walter SAMUEL, Javier ZANETTI and Esteban CAMBIASSO) played the whole 90 minutes.

Tomorrow we will see if Martín DEMICHELIS and his Bayern Munich can finish what they started last week and advance to the semifinal, where Lisandro LOPEZ (suspended for the second leg against Bordeaux) and Cesar DELGADO could be waiting for them, if they kill off the match against Fernando CAVENAGHI's team.

In the meantime...let's all enjoy the beautiful present Lio MESSI gave everyone of us (even those who follow Arsenal).