Barcelona made Champions League history by overturning a two-goal
deficit without an away strike to knock out AC Milan and reach the
quarter-finals.
The Catalans wasted no time and scored in the fifth minute when Lionel Messi expertly curled in from 20 yards.
After M'Baye Niang hit the post for the visitors against the run of play, Messi levelled the tie with a low drive.
David Villa put Barca ahead with a placed shot from Xavi's pass and Jordi Alba sealed the win in injury time.
Barca v AC Milan at a glance
- No side had ever come back from a two-goal first-leg defeat without the benefit of an away goal before Barcelona's result
- AC Milan's 4-0 defeat equalled their heaviest ever loss in the competition
- Barcelona are now undefeated in 20 home games in the Champions League
The left-back, excellent
throughout, showed great endeavour to race up from the back and finish
at the far post after he was picked out by substitute Alexis Sanchez's
bouncing cross.
For all Milan's excellence in the San Siro, that kind of incision had been absent as
stand-in coach Jordi Roura's
team laboured towards a
2-0 defeat
in which they
uncharacteristically registered only one shot on target.
Questions had also been raised after that match due to Barca's successive Spanish Cup and league losses to rivals Real Madrid, as well as a run in which they went 13 games without keeping a clean sheet.
But their usual zip returned on the vast Nou Camp pitch from kick-off as they started at high tempo.
This intensity was rewarded immediately as Messi played a neat one-two with Xavi and finished into the top corner with goalkeeper Christian Abbiati rooted to the spot. The goal was the world player of the year's 52nd of the season, but his first in open play in 10 meetings with Italian sides.
In the round of 16 opener, Milan's tight, disciplined display saw their centre midfielders cover a deep-lying and compact defence which left no gaps for their opponents to run through. Critically, this support was not present on Tuesday as Barca were granted space on the edge of the penalty area.
The Italians survived two penalty shouts and a poor Messi header, but the tie's key moments arrived with just over five minutes of the first half remaining.ش
