Lionel Messi scores his 100th UCL career goal to beat Chelsea 3-0

UCL

Round of 16

Chelsea's hard-fought battle was in vain as FC Barcelona booked a place into the Quarterfinals with a 3-0 victory and a 4-1 scoreline on aggregate.

Chelsea was stunned as early as the 3rd minute by a swift one-touch play between Messi-Dembele-Suarez saw the ball fall to the talisman himself, Lionel Messi nutmegged the ball through Thibaut Courtois' legs to hand the Catalans the early lead.

In the 20th minute, Messi's extravagant run saw him beat off two Chelsea defenders and play the ball to Ousmane Dembele who scored his first ever Barcelona goal to make it 2-0.

Chelsea had brilliant chances throughout the course of the game, which was either fluffed or brilliantly kept out by Ter Stegen and the Barcelona defense. 

Lionel Messi struck again in the 63rd minute to complete Barcelona's dominance and keep them on course for a historic treble this season. It was the Argentine's 100th UCL goal.

Chelsea joined Man United and Tottenham as the three English sides dropping out of the UCL this season. They are now competing for only one trophy this season, the FA Cup. 

Manchester United earn a precious victory against rivals bitter rivals Liverpool!

The returning Marcus Rashford scored a brace within an 11-minute span to help his side triumph over their bitter rivals in a 2-1 victory. 

The victory keeps them in 2nd place, 5 points clear of their opponents.

Rashford, who started and starred on the left wing, gave United the lead in the 14th minute, after racing onto Romelu Lukaku's flicked header, curling a stunner past Loris Karius.

The 20-year old doubled his side's advantage, after sweeping home the rebound, off of Juan Mata's intercepted run.

Liverpool was handed a lifeline in the 66th minute when Sadio Mane's cross was inadvertently turned into his own net by the returning Eric Bailly.

But United managed to hold on to their 11th league victory in 14 home games.

Manager Jose Mourinho picked up his first win in four games against Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool since taking charge of the Red Devils.

United have now beaten four of the five teams currently in the league's top-6 in the league (3H, 1A), and head with confidence into their crucial home tie against Sevilla in the UCL this coming Tuesday.

Aside from the goal scorers, Ashley Young, Man United's winger turned full-back may have put in the best performance of any other players tonight. He kept Liverpool's biggest threat Mohamed Salah almost unknown for the entire game.

Liverpool needs to put this result behind them and concentrate on confirming 3rd place or even aim for a higher finish. They can put pressure on United this coming weekend and move 2 points close to 2nd place when they face Watford in the PL, as United will be in FA Cup action against Brighton.

[PSG vs. Real Madrid] [Liverpool vs. FC Porto] - UCL Second-Leg Preview, Team News, Predictions & First-Leg Review

Second-Leg

The UEFA Champions League is set to confirm qualification for two of its 16 teams involved in the knockout stages and the end for two others.

The moment the fixture between defending Champions Real Madrid and PSG was set, we knew that one of the favorites to win the competition this year will progress and one will be knocked out. 

Real has the advantage after their mesmerizing 3-1 victory two weeks ago at the Santiago Bernabeu. A two-goal lead is crucial, but PSG has an away goal to their name which could prove to be crucial as they push to progress through.

English side Liverpool welcome Swiss side FC Basel in the second game of the night with the latter hoping for a miracle to overcome their 0-5 first-leg deficit.

Paris Saint Germain vs. Real Madrid

Last Meeting

Real made home advantage count, coming from behind to score 3 goals but PSG also has a slim advantage scoring the away goal in the 3-1 scoreline.

A PSG counter-attack in the first-half prompted Neymar to feed the ball through to Adrien Rabiot who fired in PSG's away goal in the first-half.

Real scored the equalizer before the first-half ended when Giovani Lo Celso brought down Toni Kroos in the box, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the penalty.

Madrid manager Zidane made a telling substitution by bringing on Marco Asensio who had a hand in the resulting two goals with Ronaldo once again on the scoresheet to register his 100th UCL goal and Marcelo, probably the best player on the pitch adding a deserving 3rd.

Team News

PSG:

Neymar is PSG's only and most crucial absentee ahead of this must-win game.

Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani, Javier Pastore & Marquinhos who had all been rested over the weekend have been included in their 21-man squad.

Former Real Madrid playmaker Angel Di Maria could be set to start this home game against the club who he helped win the UCL back in 2014.

Lassana Diarra is another former Madrid player who may feature but is unlikely to start.

Real Madrid:

Head Coach Zindane Zidane will assess the fitness of midfield duo Luka Modric & Toni Kroos and may not start the two together.

Apart from that, no first-team players have picked up any fresh injuries.

Key Pointers

PSG:

PSG have already scored 15 goals at home in the UCL this season and look to add it to it tonight.

With Neymar absent, the rest of the PSG squad needs to step-up and put in their best performance of the season so far.

Dani Alves, the PSG right back has a habit of winning games against Real Madrid and could be the key player to lead PSG to a historic win.

Adrien Rabiot is slowly transforming into the greatest box-to-box midfielder in Europe and could start. Real's defense needs to man-mark him, especially on long ball situations.

Kylian Mbappe, the sensational 19-year old needs to try his best and strike the first goal. His pace down the right can cause problems for opposition left-back Marcelo if he is caught out of position.

Edinson Cavani has a prolific goal-scoring record in the UCL and will play a major role is PSG are to win and gain progress to the Round of 16.

Real Madrid:

Karim Benzema hasn't been out of form this season and should be dropped for the second leg as Madrid need to defend their two-goal lead.

Zidane should start Gareth Bale, Isco, and Ronaldo in a 4-3-1-2 formation when they counter-attack and then shift to a 4-3-3 to defend.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a brace in the 1st Leg at the Bernabeu boasts thunderous form in all competitions, after scoring a brace in the La Liga last Saturday. He is likely to score an away goal for his club tonight.

Predictions:

Paris Saint Germain (2-2) Real Madrid

PSG need to score to have any chance to progress tonight, but holding off that lead will be unlikely. It is hard to pick a winner so a scored draw is the likeliest result.

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Liverpool vs. FC Porto

Last Meeting

Liverpool outclassed Porto in their 1st Leg fixture, making an emphatic statement with a 5-0 away victory to all but confirm their progress to the last 8.

All of Liverpool's Fab-3 got in on the scoring with Sadio Mane starring with a brilliant hat-trick; Mohamed Salah netting his 30th goal this campaign & Roberto Firmino netting once.

Team News

Liverpool:

Liverpool has a crucial league game this Saturday against Manchester United, but manager Jurgen Klopp has stated that he will play a full-strength line-up in the UCL. But, it may be somewhat of an overstatement and rotation will definitely happen.

Midfielders Georginio Wijnaldum and Ben Woodburn are out due to illness, but Right-back Nathaniel Clyne could feature after coming back from a lengthy injury.

Adam Lallana could also be included in the starting line-up.

Porto:

Porto will be without left-back Alex Telles, and midfielders Danilo & Francisco Soares.

The first-team squad also includes injury doubts for top-scorer Moussa Marega, center forward Vincent Aboubakar & Ricardo.

Key Pointers

Since their 5-0 hammering, Porto has been in superb form in the Portuguese league, scoring 15 goals in the 4 games that followed.

Their joint 20-goal top scorers Moussa Marega and Vincent Aboubakar possess the goal-scoring threat to provide any hope of qualification for the Dragons.

Yacine Brahimi is a talented winger who will try to find a way to score or create goal-scoring chances. But, the coach Sergio Conceicao could rest many of his top players if he feels that their UCL campaign has already ended and now concentrate in the Premeira League against rivals Benfica.

Liverpool could give chances to most of their other first team player in a bid to offer them some much-needed game-time and also focus on Saturday's meeting against Man United.

Predictions

Liverpool

(4-2) 

FC Porto

Neither team is likely to keep a clean sheet tonight. 

Liverpool will find it difficult to register a win against Porto but eventually will get through and take control of the game, once they score their 2nd goal.