Lionel Messi scored twice and Philippe Coutinho netted the other as Barcelona booked their spot in the semifinals of the Champions League with a 3-0 win over Manchester United in the second leg of their quarterfinal at Camp Nou.
Barca entered the match with a 1-0 advantage earned from the first leg at Old Trafford and it proved to be a comfortable progression to the final four at United’s expense.
The Spanish champions, who are on for a treble this season, will face either Liverpool or Porto in the semi-finals of the competition.
The English giants had a huge chance to take the lead inside the first minute when Rashford broke into the Barca box, but the attacker’s powerful effort clipped the top of the crossbar.
United continued to offer a huge threat inside the first six minutes, but Barca were starting to see more of the ball and forced two corners in quick succession as Luis Suarez started to make his influence felt.
It was Barca that made the breakthrough in the 16th minute, though, when Messi took the ball away from Ashley Young before driving to the edge of the box and picking out the bottom corner with a wonderful effort.
Messi then doubled the home side’s advantage four minutes later when the Argentine’s strike somehow squeezed through the body of De Gea, with the Spaniard making a serious mistake at Camp Nou.
Barca put the tie to bed just past the hour when Coutinho found space outside the United box before picking out the top corner with a quite wonderful strike.
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