Beat Chelsea 3-0, Barca enters Champions League quarter-finals
The Nou Camp home team won 3-0 in the second leg of the round of 16, and advanced with a final result of 4-1.
Second leg goals: Messi 3', 63', Dembele 20'
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Courtois let the ball slip through his legs when he conceded the first goal. |
Hosting Chelsea in the second leg, Barca not only dominated the game but also opened the scoring early. When the clock had just struck the 128th second, from an attack on the right side of the penalty area, Messi put the ball into the goal with a shot that "threaded the needle" past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Scoring an early goal gave Barca more ground to launch a counter-attack based on the solid defense built by coach Ernesto Valverde. Chelsea made several dangerous attacks but were unsuccessful.
And while they were busy pushing forward to find the equalizer, the visitors had to pay the price for a mistake in midfield. After winning the ball from Cesc Fabregas, Messi broke through two players and passed the ball to Ousmane Dembele to finish.
Goalkeeper Courtois got a hand to the ball after Dembele's cross-angle shot, but could not prevent Barca from making it 2-0.
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Dembele's first goal in a Barca shirt was very important. |
Not accepting early defeat, Chelsea sent most of their squad to Barca's field to attack. The second half of the first half saw the away team have many opportunities to shorten the score.
In the 37th minute, if goalkeeper Ter Stegen had not blocked Marcos Alonso's cross-angle shot, the gap could have been reduced to just one goal. A minute later, N'golo Kante also surprised Barca fans when he fired a shot that went wide of the post.
Chelsea also almost equalized with a free kick from Alonso in the final minute of the first half. The ball lightly hit the post and bounced out, instead of going into the goal as coach Antonio Conte and his team expected.
Undaunted, Chelsea continued to press the field in the early part of the second half. The visitors had several more times to bring the ball into Barca's penalty area, but only lacked precision in the finishing.
While Chelsea failed to score decisive goals, Barca once again prevailed thanks to Messi. From a counter-attack in the 63rd minute, M10 dribbled past the visitors' defense and fired a second "threaded" shot to defeat Courtois.
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Messi shines to bring Barca into the quarter-finals. Photo: Reuters |
The decisive goal left Chelsea with no morale. To reach the quarter-finals, the English team needed to score at least three goals in return. This was a difficult task while Barca's defense rarely made mistakes.
Regaining control of the game in the late second half, Barca created many more chances. If goalkeeper Courtois had not been able to block Messi's free kick and Paulinho's header, the score could have been 4-0.
With a 4-1 aggregate win, Barca became the last team to qualify for the quarter-finals. The Nou Camp team also maintained their unbeaten streak in the 2017-2018 Champions League to 8 matches.
The seven teams in the quarterfinals with Barca are Real, Sevilla, Man City, Liverpool, Juventus, Roma and Bayern. The European Football Federation will hold the draw on the evening of March 16.