Lionel Messi scored his first ever goal against Petr Cech and sent Twitter into a meltdown. He ended a run of 10 hours and 11 mins without scoring against him.

Just about two months ago, the former Chelsea skipper had bragged about being able to deny Messi the chances of scoring against him during his spell at Chelsea. Well, the Argentine smashed that record tonight.

The Gunners contained the visitors at the first half of the game but ran out of steam at the 71st minute, when Messi brilliantly chipped in a pass from Neymar.  Messi ruined their night further and netted the second goal  at the 84th minute via a penalty, no thanks to a slide at the area by Flamini who replaced Francis Coquelin at the 82nd minute.

Barcelona are now 33 games UNBEATEN in all competitions since a 2-1 loss to Sevilla on 3 October. The Catalans will host the Gunners in the second leg of the game in Camp Nou in the coming weeks.