The Round of 16 of the Champions League saw an exciting clash between English champions Chelsea and Spanish heavyweights Barcelona end 1-1 as Lionel Messi cancelled out Willian’s strike.

Going into the match, one of the major talking points was Messi’s drought against the Blues. In eight previous matches against them, the Argentine had never scored, unusual for a man who seemingly has done everything possible on a football pitch.

Messi now has 101 Champions League goals to his name, failing only to score against six: Atlético Madrid, Benfica, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Rubin Kazan and Udinese. Messi has scored more goals against Arsenal than any other team in the Champions League, with nine.

When he did finally score, it was inevitable that most of the post-game chatter would centre around Barcelona’s number 10.

Messi breaks Chelsea drought

Lionel Messi's record against various clubs. (Image courtesy: www.uefa.com)
Lionel Messi's record against various clubs. (Image courtesy: www.uefa.com)

Chelsea-Barcelona well-matched

Most of the Round of 16 ties were lopsided ones in terms of revenues and strength on paper, but Chelsea v Barcelona was a clear exception featuring two teams having a strong European pedigree.

These two are old foes, meeting each other in the semifinals of the 2011-’12 competition last, with Fernando Torres’ last-gasp equaliser at the Camp Nou knocking the Blaugrana out before the Blues went on to win the Champions League for the first time in their history.

In fact, the last three years that these teams clashed in – 2006, 2009 and 2012 – one of them went on to lift the trophy, Barcelona in ‘06 and ‘09 before Chelsea did it against Bayern Munich in the ‘12 final.

Lots of Willian love

However, one man’s performance overshadowed Messi’s. His South American counterpart was a nuisance to Barcelona, hitting the woodwork twice before netting a well-deserved goal that gave Chelsea the lead.

His side couldn’t hold on to that lead but that didn’t stop Willian from producing a Man of the Match performance, as the Brazilian scored his sixth Champions League goal for Chelsea from outside the box, more than Ronaldo and Messi in that time.

Christensen’s near-perfect game

Andreas Christensen has really come of age this season and as Chelsea have an on-off floundering campaign, the Dane has been one of their pillars at the back, helping Thibaut Courtois and Co. keep things tight at the back.

On Tuesday night, he produced a calm, defensive performance against Barcelona. Christensen unfortunately did give the ball away for Barca’s goal, but that should not overshadow a solid rearguard display.

Bayern, Muller and Lewandowski run riot

Bayern Munich made light work of Besiktas as the Turkish club had a man sent off in the 16th minute before being thrashed 5-0 at the Allianz Arena.

Among the goal scorers were usual suspects Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski as the pair bagged a brace each to heap the misery on to Besiktas ahead of a return leg, where a comeback seems nigh impossible.

‘Mr Bayern’ Muller extended his incredible scoring record in the Champions League knockouts to eight seasons and he now has 21 goals in the KO stages, only behind Ronaldo and Messi.