...BARCELONA 3-0 CHELSEA (Barca win 4-1 on aggregate)
...Chelsea crash out of UEFA Champions League
Lionel Messi scored his 99th and 100th goals in the Champions League to send Barcelona through to the quarterfinals for the 11th straight season with a 3-0 win over Chelsea on Wednesday.
Barcelona advanced 4-1 on aggregate following a 1-1 first-leg draw in London. Messi beat Thibaut Courtois with two strikes between the Chelsea goalkeeper’s legs from very tight angles on the side of the box.
He struck the opener three minutes into the match and took Barcelona’s third goal in the 63rd.
But the most dazzling moment from the Argentina forward, who returned from missing one match for the birth of his third son on Saturday, came when he helped Ousmane Dembele score his first goal for Barcelona after he stole the ball from former Barcelona teammate Cesc Fabregas and darted past two would-be tacklers in the 20th.
BARCELONA fans began the night by serenading the great Lionel Messi.
“God save the King,” their banner ran sandwiched with a photo of one of his most iconic Champions League moments – that celebration after Barcelona’s stunning revival against Paris Saint-Germain last season.
This night, this result against Chelsea wasn’t the same magic of 12 months earlier, but it was a game defined by Messi.
“Chelsea were good on the night, but Barcelona have Messi and that was the difference,” exclaimed commentator Martin Tyler on full-time.
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