BARCELONA: Barcelona hailed Lionel Messi as “The King” and he handed Chelsea the royal punishment by scoring twice to reach 100 Champions League goals and end their quarter-final hopes on Wednesday.

In the other match, treble-chasing Bayern Munich eased past Turkish champions Besiktas 3-1.

After unfurling a banner showing the words “God Save The King” before kick-off, 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.” By the end, the Argentinian’s scintillating breakaway in the build-up to Dembele’s first Barcelona goal had become little more than a footnote to what was another Messi masterclass.

“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.” It also caps a remarkable five days for the 30-year-old, who sat out Saturday’s La Liga win over Malaga to attend to the birth of his third child.

Chelsea, in touch after the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, were therefore unfortunate enough to encounter the striker fresh, free and at his frighteningly brilliant best.

At the finish, Conte left the field with his arm around the forward, perhaps with nothing to add but congratulations.

“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.” Conte’s team had chances, particularly in the first half, but the sense was once Barcelona were in front they were content to sit back and counter.

Chelsea hit the woodwork twice and claimed for a penalty when Alonso was brought down by Gerard Pique.

“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.” With Manchester United dumped out by Sevilla and Tottenham outmanouevred by Juventus, Chelsea’s exit means for all the talk of a Premier League resurgence, Liverpool and Manchester City are its only two representatives in the quarter-finals.

Spain have three, after Real saw off the challenge of Paris St Germain.

Andres Iniesta shook off a hamstring strain to start while Dembele was a surprise inclusion, preferred to Paulinho and rewarded for his excellent display against Malaga.

Conte, meanwhile, plumped for Olivier Giroud up front ahead of both Alvaro Morata, who was on the bench, and Eden Hazard, who was granted his wish to play deeper in attacking midfield.

Within three minutes, however, Chelse’s plan to frustrate was spoiled.

Messi started the move and finished it, with Dembele, Luis Suarez and a deflection off Alonso, helping him find the space to fire through the legs of Thibaut Courtois for the fastest goal of his career.

Dembele’s second came after Cesc Fabregas failed to secure possession in midfield and Messi was away, skipping past a desperate lunge from Andreas Christensen, before taking the whole stadium by surprise by squaring to the back post. Dembele took one touch and slammed the ball into the top corner.

Any hopes Chelsea had of a comeback were extinguishe shortly after the hour-mark. Suarez raced through midfield but looked to have hit a wall on the edge of Chelsea’s box.

Messi took over, tearing past the rooted Moses and banging the ball, again through the legs of Courtois, into the net.

BAYERN EXTEND STREAK UNDER HEYNCKES

In Istanbul, Bayern easily advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals for the seventh straight year with Thiago Alcantara, Gokhan Gonul’s own goal and Sandro Wagner giving them an 8-1 win on aggregate following the side’s 5-0 victory in the first leg of the last-16 tie.

That result left Besiktas in need of the biggest comeback in the competition’s history, and coach Senol Gunes reacted with seven changes to the side that lost in Munich. Only Caner Erkin, Gary Medel, Ricardo Quaresma and Vagner Love kept their places.

Despite the huge advantage, Bayern’s Jupp Heynckes sent arguably his strongest side out as the 72-year-old became the first coach to claim 11 consecutive wins in the Champions League.

The team selection paid off as Thomas Mueller crossed for Thiago to kill off any Besiktas hopes of a huge upset in the 18th minute.

Bayern’s away goal meant Besiktas needed seven in response to progress. The visitors’ level consequently dropped and Besiktas improved toward the end of the half.

Gonul started the second half with an own goal, minutes before a cat on the sideline caused referee Michael Oliver to halt the game briefly. It resumed after the cat jumped back over the advertising hoarding.

Love got the fans cheering again when Gonul pounced on a mistake from David Alaba to set the Brazilian up for Besiktas’ consolation goal before the hour-mark.

Alaba atoned by setting up Wagner for Bayern’s third in the final minutes.

“We completed the job and now we’ll look ahead to the next round,” Mueller said.

The only concern for Bayern was an apparent foot injury for Thiago, who was visibly frustrated as he went off in the 35th for James Rodriguez.

“I don’t think it’s too serious,” Heynckes said.

The home fans spent the last 15 minutes celebrating their side, singing and waving their flags in recognition of the team’s campaign. Besiktas was playing in the knockout stages for the first time after topping its group ahead of Porto, Monaco and Leipzig.

Bayern fans are hoping for a repeat of Heynckes’ treble from his previous stint in 2013. Their side can wrap up the league title this weekend, while a cup semifinal against Schalke also awaits.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2018