The 2017–18 UEFA Champions League is the 63rd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 26th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final will be played at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine.
The Champions League continues as eight teams will play this week for a place in the quarter finals. UK sides have dominated the competition in terms of search volume as they prepare to face off against elite European teams this week.
Messi & Barca Dismantle Chelsea To Reach Champions League Quarters
UEFA Champions League
Result: FC Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea (4-1 agg.)
Date: 14 March 2018
Venue: Camp Nou
FC Barcelona cruised into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League with a comfortable 3-0 win over Chelsea in the second leg of their last-16 match at Camp Nou on Wednesday night.
The score, combined with the 1-1 result from the first leg, saw the tie end 4-1 on aggregate in favour of the Spanish side.
It was the perfect start for Barcelona in their own backyard after opening the scoring after only 128 seconds when Luis Suarez played Lionel Messi into space and he dully slotted home from a couple of yards out, 1-0.
In the 20th minute, Messi turned provider when he slipped Ousmane Dembele into space with a great through ball and he hammered home through the hands of Thibaut Courtois, 2-0.
On the half-hour mark, Suarez nearly made it three but he saw his stinging shot from the edge of the box superbly saved by the Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois.
The London-based club’s only decent chance came on the stroke of half time when Marcos Alonso 24-yard free-kick struck the woodwork and bounced away from danger.
Barcelona were in control of the game in the second half and came close to scoring yet again in the 48th minute when Suraez broke into the box, but he was superbly thwarted by Courtois in a one-on-one.
The home side did finally find their third goal in the 64th minute when Messi beat three defenders before firing the ball into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box, racking up his 100th goal in UEFA Champions League action.
Barcelona took their foot off the pedal after that and were never in danger of losing the game.
Chelsea did come close to pulling a goal back when Antonio Rudiger met a cross from the right, but his header struck the crossbar.
That seemed to sum up the night for Chelsea who suffered an embarassing 3-0 defeat.
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