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Barcelona beat Chelsea 3-0 in the second leg of the Round of 16 to make it through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. It took the Catalan giants only two minutes to break the deadlock through. Lionel Messi scored, following a swift link up with Luis Suarez as Thibaut Courtois made the mistake of falling down and allowing the ball to go through his legs.
After the goal, Chelsea started pressing high and stayed alive in the game. However, it didn't take long before Barca got back on the scoreboard when Cesc Fabregas lost the ball to Messi and the Argentinian found an incoming Ousmane Dembele, who struck it with power on his right foot to make it 2-0.
However, the away team started off the second half better coming close to scoring. The claims for a penalty were denied by the referee when Gerard Pique brought down Marcos Alonso in the box.
But, the home team needed only one chance to end the London side's hopes of making a comeback when Messi dribbled past the defenders and put in the back of the net, once again through the legs of Courtois to make it 4-1 on aggregate.
Here's what went wrong for Chelsea:
#3 Poor Start
Chelsea got off to the worst possible start, unable to have a touch of the ball after kickoff and conceding after just two minutes. The ball deflecting off Marcos Alonso fell to Luis Suarez who played it through to Lionel Messi and, the Argentinian made it 1-0.
But the blame for the opening goal will be upon Thibaut Courtois, as the Belgian made the mistake of letting the ball in between his legs from an acute angle. It would have been a routine save for the goalkeeper had he stayed on his feet.
Chelsea bounced back into the game with their high pressing in the Barcelona half. It was working well as they did possess threat going forward, especially with Willian. But they needed to avoid making any unforced errors.
However, it did not pan out their way when Cesc Fabregas gave the ball away to Messi in midfield. The Barca Superstar recovered the ball, running in full speed dribbling past the defense and then finding any open and incoming Ousmane Dembele making his run.
The winger did not disappoint on the pass he received, powering it into the top left corner with his right foot.
#2 No end product in the final third
The Chelsea team finished the game with a total of 14 shots and 19 dribbles, six more than Barcelona. However, they failed to convert these opportunities, as they lacked precision.
Olivier Giroud's link-up play was better in the second half since he got more involved, even though he could notch up only one shot before being substituted in the 66th minute. He did not get much service into the box as his aerial ability wasn't applied to much use.
Majority of the attack for Antonio Conte's side was going through Willian, as he looked to be the only one to have been possessing any threat going in the box. The Brazilian finished the game with two shots and seven dribbles but his passing was a big let down as he had a pass accuracy of just 68%.
Meanwhile, the Blues were unlucky to not get on the scoresheet as they hit the woodwork twice. The flow of the attack was disrupted on multiple occasions as the London team got dispossessed 18 times on the night.
#1 Failure to contain Messi
Lionel Messi scored his first goal on his 10th attempt against Chelsea in the first leg. He was in form heading into this clash and found the net immediately after the start of the second leg. Barcelona's tiki-taka passing found a deflection off Marcos Alonso to land the ball in the feet of Luis Suarez, who played it through to Messi.
It was a tight angle for the Argentinian but he found the net following an error committed by Thibaut Courtois, who allowed the ball to go in between his legs.
After scoring, Messi was back in action, forcing Cesc Fabregas to commit an error in the center of the pitch. His run was hard for the defence to track, as he dribbled past them and found an open Ousmane Dembele for the second goal.
The Barca wizard was causing huge amounts of trouble for the entire Blues defence with his pace, dribbling and cutting inside leaving them hard to keep a track of his runs. He scored his second of the night in the 63rd minute, once again nutmegging the Belgian goalkeeper.
The number 10 made an all-around contribution in the attacking half of the pitch, popping up on the left, right and through the middle. He accumulated six dribbles, three shots, six successful take-ons and 38 completed passes along with his one assist and two goals.
