The UEFA Champions League quarterfinal field is set with Bayern Munich and Barcelona booking their places in the next stage of club football's biggest competition. Bayern Munich crushed Besiktas, 3-1 in Istanbul and advanced 8-1 on aggregate after winning their home leg of the tournament 5-0 at the Allianz Arena last month.
Thiago Alcantara's early strike for the Bavarians meant that due to the Away Goals rule the over-matched Turkish side would have had to conjure up seven goals in order to pull off the upset. Their remote hopes were dashed entirely when defender Gokhan Gonul scored an own goal in a calamitous error, sullying an already forgettable afternoon.
Sandro Wagner completed the scoring for Bayern in the 84th minute after Vagner Love scored a consolation prize in the 59th minute.
Meanwhile, at Camp Nou, things started with a bang
Lionel messi, who was responsible for the Blaugrana's goal in the earlier fixture after failing to score against Chelsea in eight of nine prior appearances, scored his fastest ever UCL goal in just 128 seconds after kickoff, when after a give and go with striker Luis Suarez he fit a shot in-between Thibaut Courtois legs.
Messi wasn't done there as roughly twenty minutes later, he picked out Ousmane Dembele with a perfect pass in the box and the 20-year-old boomed a shot into the upper left-hand corner, leaving Courtois helpless again.
Messi then put the cherry on top of his picturesque game with a goal in the sixty-third minute, ending the competitive phase of the match which represents his 100th goal in the competition, behind only rival Cristiano Ronaldo's 117.
The tournament is far from clinched
Up next for these teams, according to The Standard is the Quarterfinal draw on Friday which could see them face off against each other or against one of the other six teams to advance to this stage.
This group includes two-time defending winners, Real Madrid. Other favorites among the quarterfinalists include former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, a squad that cost almost 500 million Pounds Sterling to build.
Another favorite is six-time defending Serie A champions Juventus, who are fighting for a seventh in a row as well as UCL glory for the first time in over 20 years.
Sevilla FC, Liverpool, and AS Roma round out the tournament field. Each team will play one home game and one away game against their drawn opponent. With such large leads in their domestic league title races, it is probable that managers Jupp Heynckes (Bayern) and Ernesto Valverde (Barcelona) rest their key men in domestic fixtures to try and improve their chances of winning their club's sixth Champions League title which would be true for both.
