Barca 3-0 Man Utd (4-0 agg): Dominant Messi sends Catalans into UCL semi-finals

Lionel Messi scored twice to send Barcelona into the Champions League last four at the expense of Manchester United.

Match Repport

Two goals from Lionel Messi helped Barcelona to a 3-0 defeat of Manchester United on Tuesday and a 4-0 aggregate triumph in their Champions League quarter-final tie.

With a 1-0 advantage from the first meeting at Old Trafford, the Catalans took command inside the first 20 minutes thanks to a double from their number 10, the second of which owed plenty to a dreadful mistake from David de Gea.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer named an attacking line-up featuring Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford, but the blow of those first-half goals seemed to drain any hope of repeating the kind of performance they produced to stun Paris Saint-Germain in France in the last 16.

Match Events

1' Chance! Rashford hits the post!

OFF THE BAR! United open up Barcelona behind as Pogba slides a throughball forward for Rashford. He surges into the left inside channel and goes for the strike with the outside of his boot. Rashford connects well with his effort, but his strike clips the top of the bar and goes over.

10' No Penalty! Man Utd get relieved

 OVERTURN! The referee has overturned his initial decision as Fred made a clean challenge on Rakitic.

16' GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Man Utd (Messi)

MESSI PUTS BARCELONA AHEAD!!! 1-0!!! The Argentine punishes Young for a costly mistake at the back, burying a left-footed strike into the bottom corner. Young loses the ball under pressure at left-back and it travels to Messi on the edge of the box. He drops a shoulder to beat the challenge of Smalling before bending his effort around De Gea into the net. Clinical from Messi.

20' GOAL! Barcelona 2-0 Man Utd (Messi)

MESSI HAS A SECOND!!! BARCELONA 2-0!!! De Gea has a howler between the sticks. The Spaniard allows a trickling strike from Messi on his right foot through his grasp into the bottom corner. De Gea does not make many mistakes, but this one could be costly to his team. Messi surged into space and fired at goal, but he was hardly expecting to score with that attempt. A bonus for the Argentine and Barcelona.

26' Over the bar! Messi loses this chance

Messi surges into the box to collect Alba's cutback. He controls the ball with his first touch before going for goal with his second, only to place his volley over the bar.

36' Over the bar!

OVER! Messi tries an ambitious strike from distance. Not even he can test De Gea from 35 yards, curling his attempt harmlessly over the bar.

47' Chance! Messi nearly hits a hat-trick

Messi comes close to a hat-trick as he lines up a strike from inside the box from Suarez's cutback. However, Young is well placed in the middle to divert his shot behind for a corner.

61' GOAL! Barcelona 3-0 Man Utd (Coutinho)

COUTINHO PUTS THE GAME BEYOND DOUBT!! 3-0 BARCELONA!!!! Coutinho scores a stunner to all but place his side in the semi-finals of the Champions League. He collects an offload 25 yards from goal before advancing to the edge of the box. He gets half a yard on Smalling and it's enough to allow him to strike a perfect ball into the top corner, beating the hand of De Gea.

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