Messi powers Barca's win; ManU draw with Lyon
Messi powers Barca's win; ManU draw with Lyon
Lionel Messi scored two goals for Barcelona, with Thierry Henry adding the other.

London: FC Barcelona twice rallied to beat Celtic 3-2 in the first leg of the second round of the Champions League on Wednesday, and defending champion AC Milan held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw.

Lionel Messi scored two goals for Barcelona, with Thierry Henry adding the other in Glasgow.

Manchester United needed a late goal from Carlos Tevez to draw 1-1 at Lyon, and Fenerbahce beat Sevilla 3-2 with a late goal from Semih Senturk.

Celtic, who won all three of their home games in the group stage, twice went ahead against Barcelona, but the visitors took the lead for good in the 79th minute when Messi took advantage of a poor Celtic clearance.

Celtic striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored in the 16th minute with a diving header to give the hosts the lead, but Messi scored his first goal two minutes later after playing a one-two with Deco.

Barry Robson headed Celtic ahead again in the 38th with a goal on his Champions League debut.

Henry then leveled in the 52nd by curling the ball into the net from a tight angle after being fed the ball by Ronaldinho.

"I don't think any of us were good enough tonight," Robson said. "I thought we could have done a bit better at home, individually and collectively as a team."

Barcelona started three of its so-called "Fantastic Four" - Messi, Henry and Ronaldinho. Samuel Eto'o replaced Ronaldinho in the 73rd.

"It's very difficult to play at the pitch of Celtic because of results they've had before," Barcelona assistant coach Johan Neeskens said.

"Over the whole 90 minutes, I think we have controlled the game."

Emmanuel Adebayor hit the crossbar in injury time for Arsenal, but the Milan defence was able to keep the hosts out of the net at Emirates Stadium.

The visitors resolutely defended against Arsenal, which was rebounding from Saturday's 4-0 loss to Manchester United in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Adebayor had Arsenal's best chances - he had the ball in the net in the 53rd but it was called offside before his header in injury time.

Emmanuel Eboue, Eduardo da Silva and Cesc Fabregas also had attempts on goal.

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"I think we should go home disappointed after the chances we created," Fabregas said. "We deserved more than we got tonight."

AC Milan fielded goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac, who started despite dislocating the index finger on his right hand.

The Gunners exited at this stage last season, while Milan went on to defeat Liverpool for their seventh European title.

Milan started 18-year-old striker Alexandre Pato alongside Kaka up front, but he was taken off in the 77th minute on a stretcher with a foot injury.

In Lyon, the hosts went ahead in the 55th minute when Karim Benzema found space to turn on the edge of the penalty area and hit a powerful shot into the bottom right corner.

Tevez, a second-half substitute, scored an 87th-minute equaliser by poking the ball in from close range.

"We had the chance to be leading with only a few minutes left," Lyon coach Alain Perrin said. "It's very annoying to concede a goal in the closing minutes."

Tevez's goal will provide a big boost for United when they return to Manchester to play the second leg on March 4.

"It is always crucial to get an away goal and 1-1 is a lot better than 1-0," United striker Wayne Rooney said. "It was a crucial goal to take back to Old Trafford."

Senturk scored Fenerbahce's winning goal in the 87th after the Turkish team twice had their lead overhauled. Senturk's low shot took a deflection off Sevilla defender Ivica Dragutinovic on its way into the net.

Mateja Kezman first put Fenerbahce in front in the 17th minute, heading in a cross from Ugur Boral.

The visitors leveled when Fenerbahce defender Edu Dracena turned a cross from Sevilla right back Daniel Alves into his own net in the 23rd.

Diego Lugano headed Fenerbahce to a 2-1 lead in the 57th before Julien Escude answered for Sevilla with a close-range shot in the 66th.

On Tuesday, Liverpool, AS Roma and Schalke each made good use of home-field advantage by winning their matches.

Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard scored late goals to give Liverpool a 2-0 win over 10-man Inter Milan, while Roma rallied to beat Real Madrid 2-1 and Schalke defeated FC Porto 1-0. Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at Olympiakos.

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