When Swiss referee Bussaca blew the final whistle, the entire Camp Nou erupted in deafening cheers.
More than ninety-five thousand fans in the stadium were all chanting Messi's name.
After the whistle sounded, the Argentine superstar raised both hands high above his head and applauded vigorously, celebrating his team's victory.
Three-one. Barcelona had overturned Arsenal at home and advanced smoothly to the Champions League quarterfinals with a four-three aggregate score.
Aside from his flash of inspiration in the final moments of first-half stoppage time, when he scored a goal, Messi had also used his individual ability to win a penalty in the second half and converted it himself, scoring Barcelona's third goal and helping the team defeat their opponents three-one on aggregate.
A brace. Messi's Champions League goal tally this season had risen to eight. It was the highest number of Champions League goals he had scored in a single season in his career, and he was confident he could surpass ten, or even score more.
Reaching double figures in Champions League goals was something that no one besides Yang Yang had managed in the past three or four years.
That included Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi exchanged high fives with his teammates, hugged them, and walked off the field with his arm around their shoulders.
Messi had been the greatest contributor to Barcelona's three-one comeback victory over Arsenal at home. His leadership had been even more evident with both central defenders, Puyol and Pique, absent at the same time.
Beside the pitch, Barcelona's coaching staff and employees were also celebrating excitedly, laughing with delight.
After losing the first leg away to Arsenal one-two and then drawing consecutively with Sporting de Gijón and Sevilla, everyone at Barcelona had been under heavy pressure. Only now had they finally relaxed a little.