Barcelona became the first team in Champions League history to overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit and progress in to the next round. AC Milan couldn't produce the heroics from the first leg and Lionel Messi and co took full advantage to win 4-0. Barcelona will be joined by Galatasaray who edged a five goal second leg thriller in Germany, with Burak Yilmaz getting a little help in the scoring department. It is the first time in 12-years that Galatasaray will feature in a quarter final.
Barcelona's comeback began after just five minutes when a typical passing move saw the ball go to Messi. Despite being surrounded, the Argentine managed to curl the ball exquisitely in to the corner. It was a historical moment for Messi as it was his first goal in open play against an Italian side. Milan were a shadow of the side in the San Siro and Barcelona were smelling blood.
Milan survived a penalty scare when Ignazio Abate seemed to bundle Pedro to the floor following a Xavi ball. The Italians' only real outlet looked to be the pace of Stephan El Shaarawy. The one time the winger did break the offside trap, El Shaarawy scuffed his shot and it dribbled to Victor Valdes.
Life is full of ifs and buts and the biggest one Milan will think about in this match came six minutes before halt-time. Milan had again broke the offside trap and 18-year old M'Baye Niang was bearing down on goal. But the youngster agonisingly saw his shot expertly beat Valdes but hit the post. This could have turned the game as 68-seconds later Andres Iniesta had gained possession, fed the ball to Messi and Messi struck the ball home from 20-yards for his 53rd goal of the season, his seventh in this competition.
Milan hadn't improved much in the second half and Barcelona finally had the lead in the tie, just ten minutes after the restart. Xavi played the ball through to David Villa and striker curled the ball in to the top corner. It wasn't until the latter stage of the match that Milan, who still only needed a goal to progress, began to pepper the Barca box.
Unfortunately for Milan, their peppering didn't lead to Valdes ever really being worked as the likes of Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano were all putting in goal saving tackles. Alba stopped substitute Robinho from a tap in in injury time. Moments later, Robinho decided to play a deep free-kick short instead of possibly finding a defender in the box. The sluggish play was intercepted and Barcelona sprung the counter attack. Messi was played out wide before he whipped the ball across the box where Alba was on course to stab the ball home and put the tie beyond all doubt.
If the Camp Nou had witnessed something special, there's probably not many words to describe what happened in Germany between Schalke and Galatasaray. Schalke had the advantage of an away goal following the 1-1 draw in Turkey. Unsurprisingly, it was Galatasaray on the front foot in search of eradicating that away goal.
But Schalke hit Galatasaray with the sucker punch on 17-minutes when an undefended corner fell to Roman Neustadter to poke home. But this didn't deter the Turkish side and they continued to attack the Schalke goal. Before tonight, Burak Yilmaz had scored seven of the eight goals for Galatasaray this season, Aydin Yilmaz with the other. But Galatasaray had their equaliser on 37-minutes when former Schalke player, Hamit Altintop smashed a long range effort past Timo Hildebrand.
Galatasaray then deservedly took the lead three minutes before half-time when a defensive mistake allowed Burak Yilmaz through to score past the marooned, on-rushing Hildebrand for his eighth goal in the competition.
With Schalke now in need of two goals to go through, it was they who were the more attacking in the second half. The Germans hit the woodwork before Fernando Muslera's mistake by failing to properly smother the ball saw it fall to Michel Bastos and the Brazilian smashed the ball home to equalise both on the night and on aggregate.
A game saving stop from Muslera in injury time allowed Galatasaray to go on the counter attack saw Umut Bulut go through on goal. The striker managed to play a one-two off of Hildebrand before stroking the ball home and ensuring Galatasaray's progression in to the last eight.
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