Messi turns the tables

THE ROULETTE WHEEL OF FOOTBALL JUSTICE had been pitiless: both pro-active semifinalists suffered heartbreak; injury-ravaged teams took further casualties and Real Madrid continued to enjoy impunity from the offside rule.
Only at the death, on the very last spin of a wild weekend, did the House take a beating. And, who else to scoop the jackpot, but the little maestro himself?
You really couldn't have scripted it. Lionel Messi, given the Mark Twain treatment by so many, bagged his 499th and, most sensationally, 500th goal to put paid to exaggerated rumours about his own and Barcelona's demise.
It was the perfect end to hours of intense football drama, in which there were some slightly undeserving winners and pretty sore losers in the big games in England and Spain.
But Barcelona surely deserved the victory that keeps them alive in the La Liga title race albeit as second favourites after having to overhaul yet another blatantly offside Real Madrid goal.
There were several other instances when the linesman's flag was not raised during this undeniably classic El Clasico, but, other than that, the officiating was better than much that we've seen of late.
It was a game in which Messi gloriously turned the tables on his perpetual adversary, Cristiano Ronaldo, who was unable to follow his midweek supremacy in an off-key, out-of-sorts performance.
With Karim Benzema his usual lacklustre self and Gareth Bale not even looking match-fit, the end of the vaunted BBC looks like it might come sooner than that of MSN. Indeed, crowd favourites, Isco and Asensio look ready to join CR7 but Zinedine Zidane still needs convincing of a force that is sure to be dubbed the CIA.
But what can you say of Messi?
Blooded but unbowed, repeatedly kicked but magnificently uncowed, his first goal was trademark, his second, with the last kick of the game, a fitting way to reach his landmark and so much more than quintessential.
It made you wonder what Pep Guardiola made of it after a particularly soul-destroying, legend-tarnishing defeat to a bus-parking Arsene Wenger. City were all over them for the most part and had no luck, rattling the woodwork twice and having a 'goal' wrongly disallowed.
But once David Silva was kicked out of the game, they had no idea - Sergio Aguero apart - how to pick the locks on the Gunners' defence. It was yet another pedestrian, clueless performance that ridiculed the idea that Pep is a tactical genius.
And it was yet another mistake by Claudio Bravo – this time with his precious feet – that led to Arsenal's first goal – and you have to ask why the penalty-saving Willy Caballero was not preferred with spot-kicks a strong possibility.
So, it will be the first trophyless season for the great man - with even a top four place in jeopardy as he could face United on Thursday without Silva and Aguero. Given the hopes raised, the start made and the money spent, his first season in English football has been a reputation-wrecking disaster.
United will also be ravaged by injuries with Paul Pogba likely to be joining Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo as recent casualties. But on what we've seen this season, you'd back Jose Mourinho to find a way to win over his former nemesis.
As for the other semifinal, Chelsea were second best for much of a thrilling and mostly one-sided encounter but won the major incidents. Spurs were uncharacteristically shaky in defence and a seventh successive semifinal defeat merely entrenched their reputation as nearly men.
They are too reliant on Harry Kane and Dele Alli for goals – only Christian Eriksen of the midfielders seems to score – and are paying for a reluctance to spend in the transfer window.
Chelsea will be favourites in the final and have both the class and big-game temperament to overcome Arsenal who are still too reliant on the wantaway Alexis Sanchez.
But only a curmudgeon outside of Chelsea would wish to deny Arsene Wenger a record seventh FA Cup triumph. This is a man whose affinity with the old tournament began as teenager in France, when he paid the equivalent of £1 to share a sepia-tinted broadcast of those old black and white Cup finals.
But the big question is: would victory be enough for him to stay on? Some Gooners would even prefer defeat if it meant they'd see the back of the Frenchman, but such an outcome is far from sure.
What we saw this weekend was further confirmation that football can be the cruellest of games and that possession is certainly not 9/10ths or even half of the law – it is winning the decisive moments that count.
Spurs made key mistakes – Toby Alderweireld's tackle, Hugo Lloris being wrong-footed and Son Heung-Min's suicidal challenge on Victor Moses for example. But Chelsea, somewhat unfairly in many eyes, had the ability to make the most of them.
Antonio Conte took a massive gamble in leaving out Diego Costa and Eden Hazard but got away with it. He's looking odds on to the double in his first year – which wasn't enough to save Carlo Ancelotti.
Luis Enrique went one better with the Champions League in a rookie year treble but it's still not enough for those who are claiming the success or failure of his Barca reign will depend on this season's La Liga race.
You'd have thought that five trophies in two years had already decided that, but not apparently in Catalonia. They know a bit about paying homage but it all seems to be for one man. Well, at least we can't argue with that.