Champions League: Barcelona Defeats Ajax 2-0, Behind Double By Messi [VIDEO]

In what most experts predicted would be a rout, Ajax gave FC Barcelona everything they had for 70 minutes, until a second red card left Ajax with only 10 men, and Barcelona with the victory. Lionel Messi scored a double in the game to pass Cristiano Ronaldo for second all time and tie Raul for the all time Champions League record with 71 goals scored.

Uruguayan striker, Luis Suárez, played in his first Champions League match, and third game overall for Barcelona. He looked rusty at times, and flashed moments of his old self in others. Suárez was suspended for four months for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup.

Barcelona defeated Ajax 3-1 in Spain on October 21 in their first Champions League meeting, and were expected to score multiple goals in route to a blow out in Amsterdam on Wednesday. For the better part of 70 minutes, Ajax’s youth, energy, and reckless abandon proved to frustrate the mighty Catalans. Ajax appeared to be the aggressor while Barcelona was content sitting back and waiting for counter attack opportunities to their trio of stars, Messi, Neymar and Suárez.

Barça, wearing neon yellow and looking like a handful of highlighters on the pitch, opened up the scoring in the 36^th minute. Ajax goalkeeper, Dutch born, Jasper Cillessen who plays for the Netherlands international team, made a tremendous save off of a Messi shot from outside the box. The ball ricocheted off to the left where it was crossed over to the right side of the net. Cillessen unwisely followed the ball over to the right, leaving the net wide open. Defender, Marc Bartra, was able to win the ball away from Cillessen and send a cross to the front of the net, where the 5 foot, six-inches, Messi out jumped the much taller Ajax defender and headed it into the empty net.

Messi’s first goal was his 70^th all time in the Champions League, tying him with Ronaldo for second all-time. He wasn’t finished however, as the game changed for good in the 71^st minute when Ajax defender, Joel Veltman, picked up a red card and was ejected from the game. With Barcelona now with a man advantage, the pitch opened up and Messi scored again in the 76^th minute after a great give and go with Pedro in front of the net left Messi open again from close range.

Messi’s double passed Ronaldo and tied Raul for the all-time Champions League record with 71 goals. Messi went searching for the record and the historic hat-trick for the next 20 minutes of the match, as he attempted multiple shots in hopes of the record breaking goal. Many in the soccer world believe that the first player to pass Raul for the all-time Champions League goals scored record will have a psychological advantage when it comes time to the FIFA Balloon d’Or voting later this year.

Barcelona is now second in Group F behind Paris Saint-Germain, but with the win over Ajax on Wednesday, they secured a spot into the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League tournament. Messi will have the next opportunity ahead of Ronaldo, to break Raul’s record and become the Champions League all-time leading scorer on Tuesday November, 25^th in Cyprus when Barcelona squares off against Apel Nicosia. Ronaldo can only sit and watch and hope that Messi doesn’t score in that match as Real Madrid doesn’t play until Wednesday against FC Basel.