CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
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Lionel Messi celebrates putting Barcelona on the road to victory against Chelsea with his quickest ever goal in professional football.[/caption]
Barcelona, March 15 (IANS): A magical performance by Leo MessI – two goals and an assist – vaulted Barcelona into the quarterfinals of the 2017-2018 Champions League with a 3-0 win here over Chelsea in the second leg of their round of 16 tie.
With the score knotted at 1-1 after the first leg in London, both sides knew the importance of scoring the first goal, Efe news reported.
But the Blues found themselves trailing before their first touch on Wednesday, with Messi scoring at close range barely two minutes into the contest to the delight of the 97,000-plus crowd in the stands at Camp Nou.
The Argentine superstar smiled broadly and dedicated the goal to his newborn son, Ciro.
With their original game plan in tatters, Chelsea were forced to go forward behind Eden Hazard and the visitors dominated possession for the next 18 minutes, though the only real threat was a Willian shot that forced a save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the 12th minute.
In the 20th minute, however, Messi stole the ball from Cesc Fabregas and blew past Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen before he dished off to Ous mane Dembele rushing forward on his right and the Frenchman beat Thibaut Courtois for his first goal in a Barca shirt.
The second goal left Chelsea dazed and only a good stop by Courtois prevented Luis Suarez from making it 3-0 on the night just minutes later.
With 10 minutes left in the first half, the Blues regrouped and went on the attack. N'Golo Kante and Marcos Alonso wasted a pair of good chances, but Alonso did better on a free kick in the 45th, hitting the post.
Chelsea were sharper to start the second half and Courtois thwarted Suarez again in the 48th minute to keep his team alive.
The hosts lost Paulinho and Sergio Busquets to injury in the space of 10 minutes and Barca was looking less capable in possession when Messi rose to the occasion once more, threading the ball through Courtois' legs in the 64th minute to bring the margin to 3-0 on the night and 4-1 overall.
It was the Argentine's 100th goal in Champions League play and Barcelona are headed to the tournament quarterfinals for a record 11th consecutive year.
Player like Messi born only once in 50 years –Conte
Hailing FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi for his superlative display against Chelsea, manager Antonio Conte said his kind of player is born only once every 50 years.
Messi scored twice to take his tally to 100 goals in the competition and also set up Ousmane Dembele to open his Barcelona account.
At the final whistle Chelsea coach Conte was seen marching onto the pitch to congratulate Messi on his display.
"We are talking about a player who can move the final result for every team, for any team he is playing in," Conte was quoted as saying by ESPNFC.
"He started to play with Barcelona and for sure he will finish his career in Barcelona. Many teams can hope to have him in their team, but it won't be possible.
"This is a great story for Barcelona and Messi. This type of player is born [once] in 50 years. We are talking about one single player with this capacity, with this ability, with these skills.
"He's fantastic. We are talking about a player who is able to move the final result for the team for whom he is playing."
Asked what were his words to the Argentine, Conte replied: "When you have the opportunity to make a great compliment to Messi, I think it's right.
"It's right to praise a super, super, super top player. A player who is able to score 60 goals in every season, not only for one season. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity at the end of the game to give him my compliments because we are talking about an extraordinary player, the best in the world."
