Barcelona won Chelsea 3-0 at the Camp Nou, as Lionel Messi scored his 99th and 100th goals in the UEFA Champions League, while Bayern won 3-1 in Turkey to confirm Besiktas’ exit from the competition on Wednesday night.
The results mean that Barcelona and Bayern Munich will join AS Roma, Liverpool, Manchester City, Juventus, Sevilla and holders Real Madrid in Friday’s draw for the last eight.
Messi, who scored his first goal against Chelsea in eight attempts during the first leg, pounced on some good fortune in the box to put the Blaugrana ahead early in the second.
Despite falling behind early, Chelsea responded the right way. The Blues played some terrific football, with wide forwards Willian and Eden Hazard combining well with target man Olivier Giroud.
Too often, though, the final ball let Chelsea down. The visitors were left to rue their near misses when Barca doubled the lead in less than 20 minutes after Messi led a rapid counter and played in Ousmane Dembele to open his account for the club.
Chelsea felt aggrieved early in the second half when they were denied a strong penalty claim after Marcos Alonso was felled in the box. A slick sequence between Giroud and Willian saw the latter roll a ball through for Alonso, but the referee wasn’t interested in the wing-back’s protests after he was sent tumbling.
Alonso’s runs forward continued to cause Barcelona problems, with Dembele and Gerard Pique both being forced into fantastic last-ditch tackles to deny the Spaniard.
Those blocks proved crucial when Barca broke again and Messi made it a ton of goals in Europe’s premier club competition after nutmegging Courtois for a second time.
There were no more goals as Barcelona marched on. Chelsea had tested the hosts’ defence, but the class of Messi, the guile of Suarez and Dembele’s pace means the Blaugrana have enough quality up top to lift this trophy once again.
Bayern Munich vs Besiktas
Bayern were professional and ruthlessly efficient, despite arriving at Besiktas Park with a five-goal advantage from the first leg. Even so, manager Jupp Heynckes picked a strong XI featuring Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller.
Heynckes took over from Carlo Ancelotti earlier in the season, and one of the reasons the returning 72-year-old has been successful is because he’s welcomed key players back into the fold.
Among them, Muller was at his creative best in Turkey, teeing up the impressive Thiago for the opener. The contribution improved an already prolific rate of supply for Muller.
While Muller kept the Besiktas defence stretched, Thiago ran the show from midfield. Yet Die Roten didn’t add to their tally until defender Gokhan Gonul turned into his own net a minute after the break.
Vagner Love pulled one back 13 minutes later, but substitute Sandro Wagner capped the scoring for Bayern late on.
The result helped Heynckes, a treble winner with the club in 2013, add one more distinction to his resume.
Bayern will take some beating by any of the teams left in the draw, even though Messi’s enduring magic keeps Barca firmly among the favourites.
Here are the final scores from the last two ties of the round of 16:
Besiktas 1-3 Bayern Munich (Bayern progress 8-1 on aggregate)
Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea (Barca progress 4-1 on aggregate)
Bleacher Report
