Barca cruise into quarters

Messi: Star of the show

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Barcelona eased into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League after a 4-0 demolition of Stuttgart at Camp Nou.

Lionel Messi gave the hosts the lead early on when he was allowed to cut inside and drill a magnificent 20-yard effort into the top corner.

Barca soon doubled the advantage as Messi's pass split the Stuttgart defence and Yaya Toure pulled the ball back for Pedro to tap into the net.

A third was added after half-time when Messi capped off a flowing move by turning on the edge of the area and slotting the ball beyond Jens Lehmann.

Substitute Bojan added a fourth in the dying stages as he tucked away a simple chance after being sent clean through by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola opted to start Thierry Henry instead of Ibrahimovic and the Frenchman brought a save out of Jens Lehmann in the second minute and then fired a shot wide not long after.

Centre stage

But Messi, fresh from a stunning hat-trick in Sunday's 3-0 win over Valencia, took centre stage soon after.

Toure fed the Argentina international near the halfway line and the danger man was allowed to venture unchallenged to the edge of the Stuttgart area before unleashing an unstoppable shot that flew into the top corner.

Messi then turned provider 10 minutes later as Barca doubled their advantage.

His brilliant pass inside the Stuttgart right-back was latched onto by Toure, and his first-time pull-back was slotted home by Pedro.

Those two early strikes put Barca in total control and with Stuttgart creating little to trouble Victor Valdes and his defence, Guardiola's side went into the half-time interval knowing only a huge reversal of fortunes in the second half would deny them a place in the next round.

The pattern remained the same after the interval, though, with Messi again featuring heavily.

Dominant

He set up Toure for a low shot that fizzed just wide in the 55th minute before then extending Barca's lead five minutes later.

Pedro's pass back to the edge of area was cleverly flicked into Messi's path by Dani Alves, and the 22-year-old turned Timo Gebhart and drilled another left-footed shot past Lehmann from 20 yards out.

The strike was Messi's fourth Champions League goal of the season and took his tally to 29 in all competitions.

It put to bed any doubt about which team would be part of Friday's draw, and the only question was how many more goals Barca would add.

Messi had two chances to net his hat-trick, being denied by a superb Lehmann save and then dinking the ball wide with only the veteran goalkeeper to beat, while Andres Iniesta also went close.

Barca did manage to get one more goal though as substitutes Ibrahimovic and Bojan combined in the 89th minute for the latter to slide home a low shot from outside the area.