Barcelona thumped Chelsea 3-0 at Camp Nou on Wednesday in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, to move into the quarter-finals.
Bayern Munich also qualified for the quarter-finals on Wednesday, after beating Besiktas 3-1, to amass an aggregate 8-1.
The Catalans who held Chelsea 1-1 in London two weeks ago, won 4-1 aggregate, with Lionel Messi scoring the first goal in the third minute.
In the 20th minute he opened the defence for Ousmane Dembele to score the second goal. In the 63rd minute, Messi had his second goal of the day.
Barcelona, champions in 2013/14 and quarter-finalists in the last two editions, were the last team to qualify for the next stage.
They will now wait till Friday to know their quarter-final opponents, after the draw by UEFA in Lyon, Switzerland.
Messi becomes only the second player to reach the milestone in Europe’s premier tournament, following Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 117 goals in 152 games.
By the end, the Argentinian’s scintillating breakaway in the build-up to Dembele’s first Barcelona goal had become little more than a footnote to what was another Messi masterclass.
The match capped a remarkable five days for the 30-year-old, who sat out Saturday’s La Liga win over Malaga to attend to the birth of his third child.
At the finish, Chelsea coach Antonio Conte left the field with his arm around the forward, perhaps with nothing to add but congratulations.
Conte’s team had chances, particularly in the first half, but the sense was once Barcelona were in front they were content to sit back and counter.
With Manchester United dumped out by Sevilla and Tottenham outmanouevred by Juventus, Chelsea’s exit means for all the talk of a Premier League resurgence, Liverpool and Manchester City are its only two representatives in the quarter-finals.
Spain have three, after Real saw off the challenge of Paris Saint-Germain.
THE ROTTEN FISH: CAN OF WORMS OPENED OF APC & TINUBU'S GOVERNMENT OVER NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
WATCH THE CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND KNOW THE RESPONSIBLE PARTIES TO BLAME FOR NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC CHALLENGES, WHILE CITIZENS ENDURE SEVERE HARDSHIPS.Watch this episode of ISSUES IN THE NEWS on 9News Nigeria featuring Peter Obi's Special Adviser, Dr Katch Ononuju, 9News Nigeria Publisher, Obinna Ejianya and Tinubu Support Group Leader, McHezekiah Eherechi
The economic crisis and hardship in Nigeria are parts of the discussion.
Watch, leave your comments, and share to create more awareness on this issue.
#9NewsNigeria #Nigeria #issuesInTheNews #politics #tinubu THE ROTTEN FISH: CAN OF WORMS OPENED ...
DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS FOR SUBSEQUENT UPDATES
#9newsnigeria #economia #economy #nigeria #government @9newsng
www.9newsng.com