Two goals from Lionel Messi and an assist for another from 20-year-old Ousmane Dembélé was enough to see Barcelona get the better of Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League round of 16.
It was Barcelona’s first win over Chelsea since 2006.
The win meant Barcelona qualified for the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club trophy for a record-extending 11th straight time.
Death, taxes and Barcelona reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League...
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 14, 2018
Messi scored the first goal after just 128 seconds (his fastest ever goal for Barcelona) and he then added another midway through the second half.
In between, Messi assisted on Dembélé’s first ever goal for Barcelona with a delightful pass.
Everyone should have the chance to see Messi in the flesh at least once. High time Barca were forced to loan him around the world like a precious painting
— Matt Dickinson (@DickinsonTimes) March 14, 2018
Messi’s second goal was his 100th goal in the Champions League – all for Barcelona. It took Messi 123 games to hit a century of goals.
The all-time scoring leader is Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo with 117 although it took the Real Madrid star 144 games (according to UEFA.com) to reach the magic 100.
Messi opened his account against Panathinaikos on 2 November 2005 and attained the 50 milestone against AC Milan on 3 April 2012. UEFA.com
The draw for the quarter-finals takes place on Friday (March 16) at 11:00AM GMT.
Teams from the same country were kept apart in the draw for the round of 16 but there is no such caveat on Friday’s draw so Barcelona could play Real Madrid or Sevilla for that matter.
It is the sixth consecutive year that Spain has provided three of the last eight teams.
The Premier League was the biggest casualty of the round of 16. Tottenham Hotspur (Juventus) and Manchester United (Sevilla) were both eliminated at home after securing favorable results away from home.
Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge had tilted the tie in favor of the Spanish team.
This season’s competition also marks a re-emergence of sorts for Italian soccer. The appearance of Juventus and Roma makes it the first time in 11 seasons that Serie A has had two representatives in the last eight.
Bayern Munich is the other team that will go into Friday’s draw. Bayern knocked out Besiktas 8-1 on aggregate and Wednesday 3-1 win in Turkey was the 11th consecutive win for Coach Jupp Heynckes in the Champions League.
He is the first coach to reach the mark and in the 11 games, Bayern has only allowed 5 goals.
