Barcelona hailed Lionel Messi as "The King" as he handed Chelsea the royal punishment by scoring twice to reach 100 Champions League goals and end their quarter-final hopes.
After unfurling a banner showing the words "God Save The King" before kick-off yesterday, Barca's fans were celebrating after just 129 seconds at the Camp Nou as Messi found the net before Chelsea had even made a pass.
He then teed up Ousmane Dembele to double Barca's lead in the second leg of the last-16 clash before registering a century of Champions League goals on his 123rd appearance to complete a 3-0 victory, 4-1 on aggregate.
Messi becomes only the second player to reach the milestone in Europe's premier tournament, following Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 117 goals in 152 games.
"He knows in certain moments the stars have to come out," Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. "We enjoy him. We're lucky enough to be seeing something that will go down in history."
"I think that a fantastic player moved the final result," Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said. "In these two legs, he scored three goals, he made an assist for Dembele to score a goal. It's a pity."
"I think when you have the opportunity to make great compliment to Messi, I think it's right," Conte added. "It's right to recognise a super, super, super top player."
- Fastest Messi goal -
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"If you watch the game you can see the final result is unfair," Conte said. "Over the two legs we hit the post four times. This is very strange."