On Wednesday evening in Barcelona, the UEFA Champions League quarter-final stage ended.
At the "Camp Nou" stadium, after a draw in the first leg, "Barcelona" faced London's "Chelsea". The hopes of the "Blues" to advance further were shattered after just 20 minutes - led by Lionel Messi, the Catalans defeated their English opponents 3-0 and confidently advanced to the next stage.
The "Blues" were already punished by the hosts at the beginning of the match. Lionel Messi played well with Luis Suarez, who passed the ball to the penalty spot where the Argentine kicked it into the opponent's goal. Thibaut Courtois did not play reliably in this episode, allowing the ball to slip between his legs.
"Chelsea" tried not to panic after conceding the first goal and created attacks but were punished for their mistakes in the 20th minute - losing the ball in the middle, Cesc Fabregas allowed the "Barca" attacking trio to counter quickly. Messi found Ousmane Dembele, who increased the advantage to two goals with a great shot, putting the English champions in a catastrophic situation.
During the remaining time of the first half, Antonio Conte's players did not give up and tried to score before half time, but they failed to do so, although "Barca" was also lucky - Marco Alonso's penalty kick shook the host's goal.
In the second half, "Chelsea" played very actively in the opponents' half and caused serious problems, but both the entire defensive line and the goalkeeper did an impeccable job.
The football rule "if you don't score, they will" was once again confirmed - "Barca", seemingly out of nowhere, found their way into the penalty area, with Messi scoring again past T. Courtois with a strong shot.
The aggressive play of "Chelsea" was finally thwarted after the second goal. At the very end of the match, "Chelsea" had a chance to reduce the deficit, but Antonio Rudiger's shot once again shook the opponent's goal.
"Barcelona" maintained a three-goal advantage and advanced with a 4-1 aggregate result.
For L. Messi, this match was special - two goals against "Chelsea" allowed the forward to surpass the 100-goal mark in Europe. So far, only Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals in the Champions League.
After these matches, all quarter-final participants were revealed: "Barcelona", "Bayern", "Sevilla", "Roma", "Man City", Real Madrid, "Liverpool", and "Tottenham".
Result:
"Barcelona" 3 - 0 "Chelsea"
(First leg: 1-1, final score: 4-1)
3' [1 - 0] L. Messi
20' [2 - 0] O. Dembele
63' [3 - 0] L. Messi
