Messi Finally Solves the Petr Čech Jinx

Until now, Lionel Messi had his own personal nemesis, known to the rest of the football world as Petr Čech.

No longer.

Bummer for Arsenal. They were counting on that stalemate being part of the mix in their Champions League clash with the Blaugrana, but it was not to be.

Messi was on a mission.

And at the Emirates, of all places, the prolific Argentine led Barcelona past the Gunners in a first-leg 0-2 decision that's put Arsenal's hopes for advancement on life support.

It took 71 minutes to come together, but when it did, the deadly trio Luis Suárez, Neymar, and Messi merged their superpowers -- as they are wont to do --  to register Barça’s first:

So much for the the thought of Čech's presence playing mind games with Messi.

Naïveté shrouded the Gunner defense as Messi’s presence forced them to concede a penalty not long thereafter:

Messi may have passed over a penalty to Suárez recently, but this time, the stage was was his.

Looks like Arsenal's got only a couple of weeks to come up with a new jinx.