Twelve months ago today, it appeared that Barcelona were heading out of the Champions League at the hands of AC Milan.
After all, no team had ever recovered from a two-goal first-leg loss without the benefit of an away goal, which was the situation in which the Spanish club found themselves following goals from Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari in the San Siro.
However, the whole complexion of the last-16 tie altered within the first five minutes at the Camp Nou. A characteristic Barca passing move ended at the feet of Lionel Messi, who was able to curl the ball into the top corner of Christian Abbiati's net.
The hosts continued to dominate proceedings, but it wasn't until the 40th minute that the match swung in their favour. Milan attacker M'Baye Niang raced through the Barca defence, but with Victor Valdes to beat, he struck the post. Moments later, another opportunity was presented to Messi up the other end and the Argentine fired in his 53rd goal of the campaign from the edge of the area.
The Catalans went into break in buoyant mood and just 10 minutes after the restart they were in front for the first time. Kevin Constant failed to cut out Xavi's through-pass for David Villa and the Spanish striker took one touch before beating Abbiati with a composed finish.
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Now in need of a goal, visiting head coach Massimiliano Allegri introduced Robinho into the action and the alteration almost paid dividends. Bojan crossed for the former Real Madrid and Manchester City playmaker, but just as he was about to pull the trigger, Jordi Alba stole in to clear the danger.
Having saved his side at one end, Alba went on to secure Barca's passage through to the quarter-finals in stoppage time. Alexis Sanchez picked out the full-back with a cross from the right and with Abbiati committed, he lifted the ball into the goal from close range.
Speaking after the match, two-goal Messi told UEFA's official website: "Everything was perfect. The people knew we would respond and not only that, we played our own football. After five minutes we went 1-0 up and we continued to look for goals all the time. We knew that if we wanted to get through this round, we had to be ourselves again."
Meanwhile, his fellow goalscorer Villa added: "It was a magical night for all of us on the pitch and all our fans. That is what everyone needed after such difficult recent weeks - a result like this. Against a big opponent like Milan, we've stayed in this competition, which we like a lot."
BARCELONA: Valdes; Alves, Pique, Mascherano (Puyol), Alba; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Pedro, Villa (Sanchez), Messi (Correia)
AC MILAN: Abbiati; Abate, Constant, Mexes, Zapata; Flamini (Bojan), Ambrosini (Muntari), Boateng, Montolivo, Niang (Robinho); El Shaarawy
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Liam Apicella
