Messi fires Barcelona into quarters

BARCELONA, March 14

Lionel Messi led the way with two goals and two assists as Barcelona reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League in style by thrashing Olympique Lyonnais 5-1 at home and advancing by the same scoreline on aggregate. 

Barca captain Messi opened the scoring with a “Panenka” penalty chipped straight down the middle in the 17th minute after Luis Suarez was fouled in the area, putting the home side ahead in the tie after a goalless first leg in France.

Suarez then rounded Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes to lay on a perfect pass for the unmarked Philippe Coutinho to nudge into an open net and double Barca’s lead, although Lyon hauled themselves back into contention with a second-half strike from Lucas Tousart.

Messi soon killed off any hopes of an unlikely comeback from the French side, however, carving his way through the defence to score in the 78th minute before toying with Lyon’s back line twice more and laying off passes for Gerard Pique and then Ousmane Dembele to complete the rout. Barca began the game as if they meant business with Messi firing an early shot which Lopes had to beat away for a corner. 

Mane strikes

Munich: Sadio Mane scored twice to steer Liverpool into the quarterfinals after a superb 3-1 win at Bayern Munich dumped out the German giants. 

Virgil van Dijk’s long pass led to Mane’s excellent first-half goal at the Allianz Arena. Dutch centre-back Van Dijk then headed last season’s runners-up Liverpool into a 2-1 lead from a Milner corner on 69 minutes after Joel Matip’s own goal had handed Bayern a first-half equaliser. Mane made absolutely sure of Liverpool’s place in the quarterfinal draw by nodding in six minutes from time. — Agencies