Barca, Bayern earn wins in Women’s CL quarters
Record-setting crowd at Stadio Olimpico
ROME, March 22, (AP): Salma Paralluelo curled a shot into the net to help Barcelona beat Roma 1-0 in the first leg of the Women’s Champions League quarterfinals in front of a record-setting crowd.
The 19-year-old Paralluelo’s leftfooted strike from just outside the area in the 34th minute puts Barcelona a step away from the final four as the teams head into the second leg at Camp Nou next week.
Attendance at Stadio Olimpico was 39,454 - a record for women’s soccer in Italy.
Roma goalkeeper Camelia Ceasar limited the damage for the hosts by making several key saves, including denying Caroline Graham Hansen from close range in the first half.
Barcelona, which lost to Lyon in last year’s final, has won seven of its last eight European quarterfinal matches.
Earlier, Bayern Munich beat Arsenal 1-0 in their first leg for a 13th straight win in all competitions.
Lea Schuller’s header in the 39th minute at Allianz Arena separates the teams ahead of the second leg in London next week.
Caitlin Foord hit the post for Arsenal while teammates Stina Blackstenius and Leah Williamson both had efforts cleared off the line as the English team showed more than enough to suggest a semifinal appearance for the first time since 2013 was realistic.
A steakhouse in the trendy Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo was mobbed by hundreds of frenzied soccer fans late Monday night when word spread that Lionel Messi was inside having dinner.
People rushed to the exclusive Don Julio restaurant eager to get a glimpse of the man who led Argentina to its third World Cup title. Messi eventually needed a police escort to leave.
Fans on the street corner chanted “Messi, Messi” and sang the words to “Muchachos,” which became the unofficial anthem for the Argentina squad that beat France in a thrilling final in Qatar.
The scene witnessed in the neighborhood of Argentina’s capital known for its bars and restaurants illustrates how Messi has now become like the late Diego Maradona, who led Argentina to its second World Cup trophy in 1986, and he can no longer walk through Argentina’s streets without being mobbed.
It wasn’t always this way.
The man who is now cheered wherever he goes once used to suffer the indifference and even apathy from many Argentina fans who blamed him for the country’s failings in previous championships. All that vitriol led the man who is often called the best soccer player in the world to even quit the national team in 2016, although he later backtracked.
All of that now seems to be forgotten as Messi fever has decidedly taken over, recalling what happened with Maradona 36 years ago after he raised the World Cup in Mexico. The then-captain also had to deal with fans who chased him wherever he went in the hopes of getting a photograph or an autograph.
On Monday night, the multitude was so great that police officers had to arrive at the restaurant to accompany the 35-year-old Messi to his vehicle while keeping fans at bay.
Images and video posted on social media showed the furor of the fans who seemed willing to do anything to greet and touch the Paris SaintGermain
player. “Messi I love you” and “Thank you, Leo” were just a few phrases that could be heard as he was escorted out of the restaurant.
“Thank you for looking at me captain, I can die in peace,” one user wrote on Twitter accompanied by a video that showed a smiling Messi being escorted as people shouted “I love you!”
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni celebrated the Messi mania that has been unleashed in Buenos Aires and across the country.
“What Leo is experiencing is beautiful because he deserves all that love, him and all the players who are here,” Scaloni said at a news conference Tuesday. “Leo also needs to see that people love him and what happens when he comes here. I think it’s beautiful, it will stay with him forever.”