Arsenal’s Champions League hopes were extinguished as goals from Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi sent the Gunners to a 3-1 defeat at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night.
It was a bit too little, too late for the Gunners who mostly played well in the round of 16 second leg tie, but were outdone by Barca’s potent attacking trio to lose 5-1 on aggregate.
The Catalans added to their 2-0 first leg advantage with a simple first half strike from the Brazilian, before Mohamed Elneny scored his first Arsenal goal to give the visitors a glimmer of hope.
But Suarez struck a stunning volley with 25 minutes to play, before his Argentinian team-mate added the third of the evening late on to see Barcelona into the quarter-finals.
Arsenal started the game on the front foot, and forced clearances from the Barcelona defence as Mesut Ozil tried to play in Danny Welback and Alexis Sanchez hit a low shot across the box with no red shirt there to convert.
But it didn’t take long for the current Champions League holders to show their class, as Lionel Messi picked out Suarez and the striker was ready to open fire – but the linesman’s flag was eventually raised for offside.
The Gunners kept pushing as Ozil sent a curling effort towards goal from 25 yards that just whistled wide of the post. An Elneny effort from the same distance caused Marc-Andre ter Stegen to dive for the ball that eventually skimmed his upright.
It was David Ospina who was called into action next as he made a fantastic save to keep out Messi’s effort – although he could do nothing about the goal that came almost immediately after.
It all looked relatively easy for Barcelona as Suarez played in a lovely pass for Neymar, who made no mistake in coolly slotting the ball past the Arsenal goalkeeper to put the hosts ahead.
However, the remainder of the first half saw a plethora of chances for the visitors, and the impressive Alex Iwobi could have won a penalty after being tugged down in the area by Javier Mascherano – but the referee waved away the claims.
The second half saw Sanchez and Iwobi linking up as the teenager rifled a low shot into the side of the net and the Arsenal pressure paid off six minutes after the restart.
Sanchez was again involved as he cut the ball back for Elneny, who hit the ball first time and fired it past the leaping Ter Stegen into the top corner.
And the Gunners could have added another not long after, as Welbeck raced onto a poor clearance from Mathieu and cut inside Mascherano before letting fly, but the former Liverpool man was there to make the much needed block.
But for all of the Arsenal chances, it was Barcelona who got the important third goal of the game with a stunner from Suarez who scored for the 17th time in 14 games.
Dani Alves put in a sublime cross to the striker in the middle of the box, and he went for the spectacular with a flying volley that rocketed past a stunned Gunners defence to further put the tie out of their reach.
The game was wide open from that point, as Welbeck hit the crossbar before Ivan Rakitic fired over from the edge of the area.
Arsenal were again denied by some great defending from the Catalans as Ter Stegen made two stunning saves from Sanchez’s pinpoint free-kick and Olivier Giroud’s rebounded effort, before Mascherano headed a Theo Walcott attempt off the line.
But Messi put the final nail in the coffin in the 88th minute, lifting the ball over Ospina to make it nine goals against Arsenal in the Champions League – more than any other player against a single opponent.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich came back from the brink of a shock Champions League exit to beat Juventus 4-2 in extra-time, earning a 6-4 aggregate win to claim a place in the quarter-finals.
Paul Pogba took advantage of some shambolic defending from the Germans to put Juve in front after just six minutes and Juan Cuadrado doubled the lead with less than half an hour gone.
But just as Bayern looked like they were slipping out they came back to life and after Robert Lewandowski pulled one back, Thomas Muller levelled three minutes from the end.
That forced an extra half hour and two goals in as many minutes from substitutes Thiago and Kingsley Coman completed a stirring comeback as the hosts claimed an unlikely win.
The fact Bayern were able to come back at all was something of a surprise, particularly after their lacklustre showing before the break.
A mix-up between David Alaba and Manuel Neuer allowed Pogba to tap into an open goal after Stephan Lichtsteiner picked him out.
Although Juve would later go 2-0 up, they should have had that advantage sooner through on-loan Chelsea winger Cuadrado.
He lifted the ball over Neuer and into the net after a poor clearance from the goalkeeper but was ruled offside with TV replays showing that was not the case.
Cuadrado eventually got his goal as he provided a cool finish after a bursting run from one box to the other by Alvaro Morata which took him past four men, albeit far too easily.
The Colombian could even have made it three but his close-range finish from Pogba’s cross was weak and a grateful Neuer touched it on to the post with a fine stop.
Morata missed two good openings in the second period and converting either would surely have killed Bayern off.
Juve could not get a clincher though and Lewandowski’s header from a sumptuous Douglas Costa cross with 16 minutes remaining gave the hosts hope.
An even better delivery from Coman after Arturo Vidal sent him scampering down the right was nodded in by Muller to force extra-time and by then the Germans were in the ascendency.
With Juventus visibly tiring, they did just enough to hold their opponents off in the first half of additional football.
Thiago’s smart one-two gave him the chance he needed, however, to put Pep Guardiola’s men in front for the first time since the first leg in Turin.
Coman delivered a sickening sucker punch just a couple of minutes later as he passed into the net and with that it was clear last season’s losing finalists had finally been beaten.
Now Bayern can look forward to Friday’s quarter-final draw and for Guardiola that means the possibility of coming up against Manchester City, the team he will take charge of in the summer.
They are one of seven teams Munich could face and if this tie had drama, there’s every chance that fixture might just eclipse it if it happens. – Skysports.
