When Barcelona Last Reached Champions League Semi-Finals, They Won the Competition

FC Barcelona have stormed into the semi-finals of the Champions League with a massive 4-0 aggregate victory over Manchester United on Tuesday.

Lionel Messi was right at the centre once again as he scored a brace in the first 20 minutes of the second leg to push Manchester United right behind.

Barcelona controlled the game from thereon with Philippe Coutinho adding another goal (a spectacular one indeed) to advance to the semis.

Lionel Messi had said ahead of the season that it’s been long since Barcelona won the Champions League and this season’s focus for him is the European competition.

Messi has shown his zeal and determination so far.Here are all the statistics from Barcelona vs Manchester United:

Barcelona have qualified for the Champions League last four for the first time in four years. They last made it this far in Europe’s elite competition in the 2014-15 season.

Interestingly, when Barcelona made it to the semi-final four years ago, they went on to win the tournament. It was the same year when Barcelona won the elusive treble under Pep Guardiola.

Barcelona scored all the three goals in the second leg of the quarter-final against Manchester United from outside the box, including the second Messi goal that came off a David de Gea howler.

With the goals, Barcelona became the first team since Chelsea (against FK Qarabag) in September 2017 to score three goals from outside the box in a Champions League match.

With his brace on Tuesday, Messi recorded 23 Champions League goals against English clubs, which is more than any other player in the tournament’s history.

Messi has scored the most number of goals against Arsenal, which is nine. He has scored six goals against Manchester United, four against United, three vs Chelsea and two against Tottenham Hotspur.

For Manchester United, they have suffered their heaviest-ever aggregate defeat in a knockout tie in Europe in the history of the club.

Also, United have now lost four consecutive away games in all competitions for the first time since October 1999.

Interestingly, United’s current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer featured in all of those four defeats.