Following a 1-1 draw in the first leg, the visitors fell behind after just 128 seconds in the Nou Camp as Lionel Messi shot through the legs of Thibaut Courtois from a tight angle.

Messi then set up Ousmane Dembele to hammer home the second after Cesc Fabregas lost possession.

Marcos Alonso hit the post for Chelsea with a free-kick before Messi’s 100th Champions League goal – after a mistake by Cesar Azpilicueta – took the hosts out of sight.

Alonso was then denied a penalty after a challenge by Gerard Pique as Barcelona joined La Liga rivals Real Madrid and Sevilla in Friday’s quarter-final draw.

Chelsea, meanwhile, join fellow Premier League clubs Manchester United and Tottenham in exiting in the first knockout round.

What next for Conte? 

Chelsea’s elimination by the five-time winners is bound to add to the speculation about manager Antonio Conte’s future.

The Blues’ hopes of retaining the Premier League title ended weeks ago, and they may not even secure the top-four finish they need to return to the Champions League.

Conte’s side are fifth in the table, four points behind Liverpool, with their next league game at home to third-placed Tottenham on 1 April.

They head to Leicester on Sunday for an FA Cup quarter-final knowing defeat will leave them without a trophy for the second time in three seasons.

Conte, who has been in charge since the summer of 2016, has a contract until the summer of 2019 but has had to deny reports of a rift with the club’s owners.

Speaking last month, the 48-year-old Italian said it is his “intention, will and desire” to stay at Stamford Bridge.

However, Chelsea have lost four of their past six league games, including back-to-back defeats by Bournemouth and Watford.

What’s next? 

Chelsea visit Leicester City in the FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday (16:30 GMT). Barcelona return to the Nou Camp on Sunday (15:15) as they look to take another big step towards winning La Liga.

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Source: BBC

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The 32-year-old, who moved level with Messi at the top of the all-time Champions League group stage goalscorers leaderboard on Wednesday after helping Madrid to beat Borussia Dortmund, was presented with his award in Paris on Thursday having just pipped his perennial rival.

“This is something I look forward to every year,” Ronaldo said.

“Thanks to my Real Madrid team-mates. And I want to thank the rest of the people who helped me reach this level.”

Ronaldo and Messi have won the Ballon d’Or between them every year since 2008.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane was the highest-ranked Englishman in 10th spot, while Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté finished eighth. Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne was 14th, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard 19th and the Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea 20th.

Liverpool pair Sadio Mané and Philippe Coutinho were 23rd and 29th respectively.

2017 Ballon d’Or final standings

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

3. Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain)

4. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

5. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

6. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

7. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain)

8. N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea)

9. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

10. Harry Kane (Tottenham)

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Source: Guardian UK

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The Real Madrid and Portugal forward beat Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Paris St-Germain’s Neymar to the honour.

Ronaldo, 32, helped Real to a Champions League-La Liga double in 2016-17.

Lieke Martens of Barcelona and the Netherlands won best female player, Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane was named best men’s coach and Netherlands’ Sarina Wiegman the best female coach.

Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud received the Puskas award for the best goal of 2017 for his ‘scorpion kick’ against Crystal Palace in January.

Celtic won the fan award after they honoured the club’s 1967 ‘Lisbon Lions’ with a stunning 360-degree card display on the 50th anniversary of their historic European Cup win.

Best Fifa men’s player – Cristiano Ronaldo

This was the second edition of the Best Fifa Football Awards, with Ronaldo the first recipient of its main prize in January, at the start of what was another hugely impressive year for the forward.

As well as scoring two goals in Real’s 4-1 win over Juventus in the Champions League final, the Portuguese also found the net 25 times in 29 appearances as his club won La Liga for the first time in five years.

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Source: BBC Sport

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Messi, 30, and Roccuzzo, 29, tied the knot in a civil ceremony at a luxury hotel in the heart of Rosario in what has been dubbed “the wedding of the century” in Argentina.

The Mirror reported a host of “footballing greats past and present, including Xavi Hernandez, Carles Puyol, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Aguero strutted their stuff on the red carpet, to celebrate the marriage of Barcelona superstar Messi to the mother of his two children.”

And after the ceremony, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and his wife posed on the red carpet themselves, with the bride wearing an exclusive, exquisitely detailed mermaid-style gown, designed by Rosa Clara, for the ceremony.

Guests, including Messi’s Argentine teammate Ezequiel Lavezzi, Barcelona star Gerard Pique and Shakira, were set to be given gift bags containing wine, local desert dulce de leche and other items.

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Source: Graphic.com.gh

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Lionel Messi has been found guilty of violating art. 57 of the FDC for having directed insulting words at an assistant referee. As a result, Messi will be suspended for four official matches and sanctioned with a fine of CHF 10,000.

The first match for which the sanction will apply is the next fixture in the preliminary competition of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia between Bolivia and Argentina, which will be played today, 28 March.

The remainder of the sanction will be served over Argentina’s subsequent FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.

This decision is in line with the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s previous rulings in similar cases. Both the player and the Argentinian Football Association have been informed of the decision today.

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Source: FIFA

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Nicola Sansone fired the hosts ahead, a low angled finish after ex-Chelsea loan signing Alexandre Pato’s threaded pass.

Messi hit a post and Barca were denied a penalty when Bruno handled a shot by the Argentina forward, before Messi’s brilliant set-piece goal.

Barca stay third in the table and trail leaders Real Madrid by five points.

Villarreal, who remain fifth in La Liga, had full-back Jaume Costa sent off close to full-time after a second yellow card.

Damaging start to 2017 for Barca

Despite Messi’s late heroics, this was a damaging result for Barcelona, who have played one more game than Real, in their first league game after the winter break.

Luis Enrique is unlikely to remember his 150th game in charge of Barca for long, with his side sluggish for long periods.

Luis Suarez and Neymar wasted good chances, while the visitors were caught out at the back as Villarreal scored after a slick counter.

Barca were guilty of giving the ball away cheaply deep inside Villarreal’s half before Pato’s threaded pass found Sansone, who kept his composure to beat keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Suarez remains on 99 goals for Barca after a frustrating match in which he was presented with several chances to score the landmark goal.

Villarreal were getting ready to celebrate a first win in nine years against their opponents when Messi, who had been fouled by Bruno, found the top corner with an exquisite finish to rescue a point.

The result leaves Real Madrid, 5-0 winners over Granada on Saturday, with a clear advantage over their bitter rivals.

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Source: BBC

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The striker went off on 59 minutes on Wednesday after a Diego Godin tackle.

He was forced to miss Argentina’s World Cup 2018 qualifier against Venezuela earlier this month with a groin injury, but has played in all five La Liga games for his club this season.

The Argentine could return for Barca’s Champions League tie with Manchester City on 19 October.

Prior to that tie, Messi will be ruled out of games against Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League, Sporting Gijon and Celta Vigo in La Liga, and World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Paraguay.

Sergio Busquets was also forced off with injury in the second half ofWednesday’s game as Angel Correa’s equaliser cancelled out Ivan Rakitic’s opener at the Nou Camp.

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Source: BBC

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This follows the release of about nine million liters of petrol to retail stations across the country.

Citi News’ checks reveal there are still queues at some of the pump stations despite the release of fuel.

The Chamber insists the situation will ease significantly by close of the day.

Speaking to Citi News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Bulk Oil distribution Companies, Senyo Horsi explained that the Chamber will try to move documentation and swap products across depots to be able to sell fuel from the Accra depot.

“We are trying to move documentation and swap products across depots so we can sell out of Accra depot which belongs to the BDC stock… we are expecting that we should be able to move even more today since we will be having even more terminals to sell out,” Mr. Horsi explained.

He noted that some consumers did not have fuel because the distribution made by the BDCs was not reflecting at the various stations.

Another contributing factor to the problem, he said, was the refusal of some filling stations to sell the fuel it had received from the BDCs to consumers.

Mr Horsi  encouraged Ghanaians not to panic since the problem will be addressed after the BDCs distribute more fuel on Monday.

“We believe that we would have more credits today or tomorrow ….the situation should not be a problem at all.”

Meanwhile, Citi FM’s Ashanti regional correspondent, Hawa Iddrisu says the fuel shortage problem still persists in the region despite government’s release of fuel.

According to her, some filling stations in the city have closed down while others are waiting in long queues to be served.

“I spoke to one of the petrol attendants and she told me that she needs to speak to his manager before he can serve his clients with petrol,” Hawa Iddrisu said.

From Ho, Norbert Akpabli reported that “the drivers are considering the sort of route where they will get more passengers so they can efficiently use their little fuel and get their needed profit at the end of the day.”

“Some commuters are also struggling with this problem because they have to stand by the roadside for close to thirty minutes before they can get a vehicle to their destination,” Nobert added.

Speaking to Citi News, a taxi driver said “the shortage is affecting productivity in the region.”

Reporting from the Upper East Region, Fred Awuni, said prices of fuel have risen following the shortage.

According to him, “the fuel situation in the Upper East region has still not changed after the National Petroleum Authority announced that it has dispatched fuel into the system.”

“There are long queues in the region while others are hoarding the fuel they have. Workers are saying they will be unable to go to work due to the problem.”

Citi FM’s Northern regional correspondent, Mashood Kombat, reported that the police in the region are going round the various filling stations to check reports of hoarding in some filling stations.

According to Citi FM’s Tema correspondent, Elvis Washington, most of the people who visited the fuel stations in the area were turned away.

Citi FM’s Brong Ahafo regional correspondent, Kwadwo Brefo reports that the shortage has created a ‘black market’.

“Fuel in the region is being sold at exorbitant prices”

There has been fuel shortage in Accra and other regions for sometime now due to government’s inability to pay about 1.8 billion cedis owed the Bulk Oil Distributors Companies.

Government has so far paid about 600 million out of the total amount.

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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According to him pricing of petroleum prices is out of the control of the politician. ‘’Is high time we all accept some few things, pricing is out of control of the politician; please if you can’t do it, don’t talk about it,’’ he said.

This comes on the back of a warning from the chamber of an imminent shortage of petroleum products in Ghana due to government’s failure to pay  the about GHC1.5 billion it owes the chamber .

According to the BDCs, they will soon not be able to supply petroleum products due to government’s inability to pay the bulk oil distribution companies (BDCs) from subsidies.

Speaking on Citi FM‘s news analysis and political programme, The Big Issue, Mr. Hosi warned that Ghana has ”less than a week” of fuel in store.

”We have less than a week now; I am pretty sure early next week we should be seeing no petrol here and there…,” he said.

He further stated that government cannot continue to subsidize for petroleum products when it does not have the money for it. ”You can’t come saying that you want to subsidize when you don’t have the funds for it; you don’t order what you can’t pay for,” he added.

Mr. Hosi advised government to stay out of the business of subsidizing or pricing and charge the right prices for fuel.

”The way to sort this thing out is to make sure we don’t keep bleeding; government should please stay out of pricing and charge the right thing so that people can have the product,” he noted.

The CEO of the chamber called for all the full implementation of the automatic adjustment without interference.

“It is important that as politicians, as a people we are honest about petrol pricing. No politician has control over petrol pricing. Those days are over,” he added.

‘’The subsidy is not sustainable; government hasn’t got the capacity, hasn’t got the fund for it,’’ he said.

He revealed that banks have denied them [BDCs] lines of credit because of the rising debt level.

Fuel prices were maintained after the national petroleum authority reviewed them on Monday.

The Bulk Distribution Companies (BDC’s) are a function of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) whose primary mandate is to wholesale petroleum products and also to import finished products to augment finished output.

By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @effsevans

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