Barcelona beat Chelsea at Camp Nou

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Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea:
Lionel Messi nets 100th Champions League goal as LaLiga side progress (March 14 2018)

Barcelona booked their place in the quarter-final of the Champions League after an impressive 3-0 win over Chelsea at Camp Nou.

A brace by Lionel Messi, combined with an Ousmane Dembele strike in between, handed the LaLiga side a spot in the next stage of the competition.

It was a fairly comfortable night for Ernesto Valverde's side, and they are now 7/2 joint-second favourites to lift the trophy.

Chelsea did have chances though as they enjoyed spells of attacking pressure, Marcos Alonso coming the closest as he struck the post.
Champions League winner.

It was Messi who opened the scoring after just two minutes. Luis Suarez's pass found Messi inside the area and the Argentinian rolled the ball into the net from a tight angle on the right-hand side of the six-yard box.

The official time of the goal was two minutes and eight seconds, the quickest goal Messi has scored in his career.

Dembele would strike with 20 minutes on the clock. Umtiti made a crucial block to deny Hazard which was followed by Barcelona charging down the pitch once again.

Messi stole possession off Fabregas before playing in Dembele on his right, he took a touch and unleashed a thunderous hit from inside the area into the roof of the net, giving the hosts a commanding position early into the tie.

Alonso came within inches of pulling a goal back for Chelsea just before the break. Giroud was fouled just outside the area giving them a free-kick in a dangerous position. Alonso stepped up, but saw his curling left-footed effort strike off the post.

Early in the second-half, the visitors felt that they should have had a penalty as Alonso went down in the area, referee Damir Skomina waved away the appeals and showed Giroud a yellow card for his complaints.

Messi then got the third after a wonderful run inside the area. Cesar Azpilicueta gave possession away in midfield which allowed the hosts to break, Suarez found Messi who sprinted into the box and slotted the ball low into the net through Thibaut Courtois' legs.

Antonio Rudiger's header struck the crossbar with just minutes remaining as Antonio Conte's men pushed for a late consolation, but it wasn't to be and Barca progressed as 4-1 aggregate winners.

Post-match reaction

Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso felt that they were unfortunate after striking the woodwork three times and creating numerous opportunities.

The Blues full-back told BT Sport 1: "We knew they have top players and we cannot give them one metre because then they can create and score.

"I think we were a little bit unlucky also with the first two goals and also we hit the post three times.

"We had so many chances in both games and they were the better team but we were unlucky. I think we competed well and we have to keep training and get better.

"They were not comfortable in the first half and we just missed the chances. It could have been 2-2 at least at half-time but it was 2-0 and in a stadium like this, against this team, it isn't easy to come back."