PARIS: Lionel Messi finally managed one of the few things he had yet to achieve in football.

At his ninth attempt, the five-time world player of the year finally scored against Chelsea, salvaging a 1-1 draw on Tuesday and halting his longest drought against any opponent after 730 minutes.

By cancelling out Willian’s opener, Messi also gave Barca a narrow edge in their Champions League round-of-16 matchup heading into the second leg at Camp Nou on March 14.

The night’s other game produced a far more conclusive outcome with Thomas Mueller and Robert Lewandowski both scoring twice as Bayern Munich beat 10-man Besiktas 5-0.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte rued one costly mistake as Messi gave Barca the upper hand.

Barcelona’s talisman Messi had fired blanks on eight previous occasions against Chelsea, most notably in a shock semi-final defeat six years ago, and he rarely had a glimpse of goal on his ninth meeting with the Londoners.

But Andres Iniesta punished the English champions once more when he intercepted Andreas Christensen’s slack pass across his own box to tee up the five-time World Player of the Year.

It edged the tie towards Barca, although they could count themselves fortunate after being out-manouvered against a Chelsea side who, apart from one lapse, played a ‘perfect’ game according to Conte.

“It is a pity. I am very proud for my players. They followed what we prepared,” Conte said. “Tonight we were a bit unlucky.

“I think when you play this game you must have a plan and respect the characteristics of the opponent. Our plan was really good. We are talking about 1-1 and maybe we deserved more.

“Against this opponent, this type of player like Messi, [Luis] Suarez, Iniesta, if you make a mistake you pay. There is a bit of disappointment. But at the same time this game must give us a lot of confidence to trust that in the second leg the qualification is open.”

Chelsea’s outstanding performer Willian could hardly believe his bad luck as twice before halftime he rattled the woodwork.

But the Brazilian was finally rewarded for his persistence in the 62nd minute when he fired Chelsea into the lead on an electrifying night at Stamford Bridge.

Unbeaten La Liga leaders Barca enjoyed suffocating possession, especially in the first half, but despite the probings of Messi and Iniesta, they could provide precious little ammunition for striker Suarez.

However nine years on from combining for a stoppage-time equaliser in a highly controversial semi-final at Stamford Bridge in London to send Barca to the final, Iniesta and Messi swapped roles as this time the Spaniard provided the pass and Messi the finish.

“It was a clash of styles, two different teams,” Barca coach Ernesto Valverde said. “We had the game under control when they scored their goal. Perhaps we didn’t create many clear-cut chances, but we managed to force an error and get the draw. It is a good score given we were behind and clearly there is everything left to decide in the second leg.”

Bayern, meanwhile, have all but secured progress to the quarter-finals for the seventh straight season after they thrashed Besiktas after the Turkish champions played nearly the whole match with 10 men.

Disaster struck for Besiktas after just 16 minutes at Munich’s Allianz Arena when defender Domagoj Vida was sent off for bringing down Lewandowski outside the penalty area as the Poland striker was through on goal.

Mueller, inelegant yet always effective, broke the deadlock with a miskick from close range two minutes before halftime to break Besiktas’ resistance.

The floodgates opened after the break, though, as Kingsley Coman doubled the lead and Mueller grabbed his second midway through the second half.

Bayern claimed their fourth on 79 minutes when Lewandowski pounced on a rebound after defender Mats Hummels’ long-range shot was parried.

Mueller then weighed in with an assist to set up Lewandowski for the fifth just before the final whistle to give Bayern a seemingly insurmountable five-goal cushion ahead of the second leg in Istanbul on March 14.

“The most important thing was to get a good result and the red card helped, even if we couldn’t make much headway in the first half,” said Mueller after the biggest home first-leg win in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

“That changed — thank God — in the second half, we were much more aggressive in attack and we made the extra man count.”

It was Bayern’s 14th straight win across all competitions— a record for Jupp Heynckes as coach, who was spoiled for choice with all his outfield players fit.

“We began nervously and couldn’t find our rhythm,” said Heynckes, whose side lead the Bundesliga by a huge margin. “The turning point was the sending-off and the goal just before the break. The Champions League is another competition. I think we still need to improve.”

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2018