Messi strikes as Barcelona crush Man United
Lionel Messi scored two early goals to send Barcelona into the Champions League semifinals for the first time in four seasons with a comfortable 3-0 win over Manchester United yesterday.
After Barcelona withstood some early pressure from United, Messi ended any hopes of a comeback for the Premier League side as the hosts advanced 4-0 on aggregate at the Camp Nou.
Messi opened the scoring in Barcelona with a brilliant solo effort in the 16th minute after he won possession of the ball, ghosted past a defender, and curled a shot into the far corner.
The second came just four minutes later, although Messi was helped by a massive error by David de Gea. The Argentinian forward only managed a tame shot on goal but the Spanish goalkeeper let it slip underneath him and into the net.
Philippe Coutinho added a third goal with a superb curling strike from long range in the 61st to cap arguably the best performance by the former Liverpool player since joining Barcelona just over a year ago.
The goals ended Messi’s bizarre scoring drought in Champions League quarterfinals that had reached 12 matches dating back to 2013.
They took his tournamentleading tally to 10 this season. In total, he has 45 goals in 42 games through all competitions.
Barcelona will meet either Liverpool or Porto in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Ajax eliminated another one of the favourites from the competition after winning 2-1 at Juventus to reach the semifinals for the first time since 1997, ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of a fourth straight title.
Having already seen off Real Madrid in the previous round, Ajax showed no fear against Ronaldo and the Italian giants either, advancing 3-2 on aggregate after dominating much of the game.
Even going behind to a goal from Ronaldo in the first half didn’t faze Ajax’s young players as Donny van de Beek levelled shortly after and 19-year-old captain Matthijs de Ligt scored the winner in the second half. Ajax will play either Manchester City or Tottenham in the semifinals.
It is the first time since 2010 that Ronaldo failed to reach the last four, having won the competition the past three years in a row with Madrid.