Lionel Messi was irresistible as Barcelona found their swagger in style to hammer AC Milan 4-0 in the last-16 second leg and advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Barca were staring at an early exit from Europe's elite competition after suffering a 2-0 defeat at the San Siro, but a brilliant brace from Messi and a goal apiece from David Villa and Jordi Alba at the Camp Nou gave the Catalans a deserved 4-2 aggregate victory against the Italians, who had no answer to Barcelona's attacking power.
In the day's other game, Galatasaray went through to the next round 4-3 on aggregate as the Turkish side won 3-2 in Germany in the second leg.
At the Camp Nou, Jordi Roura made a couple of changes to his side with Javier Mascherano starting for the experienced Carles Puyol, while David Villa got the nod ahead of Cesc Fabregas.
The changes seemed to work, with Barca on top of the game right from the off. Their tempo of the game was so much better than the one at San Siro, with their pace of the attacks making all the difference on the night.
After, as expected, plenty of possession, Messi, no surprises there, opened the scoring in the fifth minute to give the home side the best possible start. A trademark strike it was as well, with the little Argentine taking a pass from Xavi Hernandez before cutting inside and curling one past Christian Abbiati's right hand into the bottom corner.
Stephan El Shaarawy had a chance to score a goal on the counter, which would have forced Barca to score at least four on the night, but fluffed his effort.
Pedro Rodriguez then tumbled inside the box at the other end under the challenge of Ignazio Abate, but referee Viktor Kassai waved play on.
Barca's other little magician Andres Iniesta nearly made it 2-0, but saw his strike brilliantly saved onto the post by Abbiati with Messi only finding the side netting with his follow up.
The game then completely turned in Barca's favor within a two-minute stretch when it should have been Milan with the upperhand.
Riccardo Montolivo found M'Baye Niang, replacing the injured Giampaolo Pazzini, with a long ball with the striker only having the task of beating Victor Valdes. The youngster, however, could only strike the post, and with virtually the next attack at the other end, Barca were 2-0 up, thanks to that man Messi again.
Iniesta robbed the ball off Massimi Amborisini before playing a firm pass to Messi, who again took a delightful first touch before firing his strike hard and low, this time to Abbiati's left in the 40th minute.
Ten minutes into the second half, Barca completed the remarkable comeback and it was Villa who had the final say. Xavi found his Spanish international teammate inside the box, with Villa cutting onto his left foot before curling one into the top corner.
Milan were shellshocked and manager Massimiliano Allegri looked to change things up by bringing on Robinho and first leg goalscorer Sulley Muntari for Niang and Ambrosini respectively, but it was to no avail as the home side comfortable saw off the rest of the second period, scoring the fourth goal in stoppage time to add the icing to a sweet sweet cake.
Messi held the ball up before playing in Alexis Sanchez who crossed perfectly for Jordi Alba to coolly slot into the net.
The demise of this Barcelona team is a long way off yet, especially with a certain Messi in their team.
