LONDON, March 13: A double by the mercurial Lionel Messi helped Barcelona complete a remarkable comeback against AC Milan to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday while Galatasaray joined them with a pulsating win at Schalke 04.

Hailed as perhaps football’s greatest team ever, Barca faced a challenge no club had overcome: advancing in the Champions League after a 2-0 first-leg loss on the road.

But the competition favourites stormed back with a mesmerising 4-0 win in the return match at the Nou Camp to grab a 4-2 aggregate victory as World Player of the Year Messi led by example.

“It had been a long time since we had pulled off a historic comeback,” Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez said. “We pressed them very well and played an exceptional match.”

Galatarasay, who drew 1-1 at home to Schalke last month, prevailed 4-3 on aggregate to reach quarter-finals for the first time since 2001 following a frantic 3-2 win in Gelsenkirchen.

Messi’s form had been questioned by some after Barcelona were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Real Madrid and looked demoralised in going down to Milan at the San Siro.

Barca, all-but written off, looked to Messi to spark a fight-back and the four-times World Player of the Year did not disappoint.

Before a screaming crowd of 94,944, the Argentine opened the scoring five minutes in, controlling and then instantly finishing with minimal back-lift between two defenders.

The goal moved Messi past Ruud van Nistelrooy into sole possession of second on the Champions League scorer’s list with 57, trailing only Raul Gonzalez’s 71.

He then gave the hosts even more hope five minutes before the break when he rifled home with aplomb to level the tie on aggregate.

“If there was anyone not sure about Messi then this was the perfect response as he took charge of the game with two goals and showed again that he is an extraordinary player, out of this world,” said Barca assistant coach Jordi Roura.

“Before we weren’t so poor and now we are not so great and I wouldn’t describe ourselves as favourites for the competition.”

Barcelona ruthlessly dominated, with Milan struggling to get the ball out of their own half for long periods, and David Villa hit a special goal for himself after a long run of bad luck with injury and form, with a 14-yard shot 10 minutes after the break.

That put the Catalans ahead in the tie for the first time, before Jordi Alba netted in injury-time on a counterattack and the celebrations began in earnest.

“We started really fired up, as you have seen,” Villa told Spanish television. “We believed we could do it from the first minute, in fact from the final whistle of the last game.”

Barca can now look ahead to the last eight after keeping alive their dream of a third European crown in five years and will find out their opponents in Friday’s draw.

Milan, seven-time champions and lying third in Serie A, return home to focus on qualifying for the Champions League againnext season after coming remarkably close to upsetting the pre-tournament favourites.

“Barcelona are still the best team in the world. Moving on was a true feat,” Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “The first-leg didn’t change these two teams, and whoever thought so was wrong. We played worse than in the first leg, but that is toBarcelona’s credit.”

Galatasaray, spearheaded by Didier Drogba, struck twice before half-time and survived a second-half barrage to oust Schalke, denying Germany a full house in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Drogba’s side, however, looked to be on the way out when Roman Neustaedter scored for the Germans after 17 minutes following a scrappy corner.

But the Turks turned the tie on its head, with Hamit Altintop striking from distance eight minutes before the break and Burak Yilmaz gave Galatasaray the advantage with a lob in the 42nd which was remarkably his eighth goal in eight Champions League games this season.

Schalke’s Michel Bastos levelled the scores after the break but it was not enough and Umut Bulut ended any doubt for Galatasaray with a breakaway effort in the fifth minute of stoppage time, sparking wild celebrations among the huge visiting support.

Results:Schalke 04 2    Galatasaray 3(Galatasaray win 4-3 on aggregate)Barcelona 4    AC Milan 0(Barcelona win 4-2 on aggregate)—Agencies