Chelsea

The sides were locked together at 1-1 after Messi's equaliser in the first leg of the last-16 tie at Stamford Bridge and Antonio Conte's men held their own for long periods once again, only to be undermined by uncharacteristic defensive errors.

Messi scored the earliest goal of his professional career in the third minute, with Ousmane Dembele opening his Barcelona account in style to ground an encouraging Chelsea response.

In a thoroughly commanding performance from a City team closing in on their first league triumph since 2013-14, Bernardo Silva's strike enabled them to open up an 18-point lead at the summit, though Manchester United can close the gap to 16 by winning at Crystal Palace on Monday.

Antonio Conte dropped Alvaro Morata to the bench as he opted against fielding a recognised striker and false nine Eden Hazard was starved of service as they failed to register a shot on target in the match, the imperious City completely overrunning them.

Willian hit the post twice but finally found the net with what looked to be the winning goal, only for Messi to score for the first time in six games to earn a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, leaving the clash finely balanced.

Chelsea and Barca were facing each other for the 13th time in the Champions League, renewing their rivalry after a classic semi-final clash in 2012, and for much of the contest there was nothing between the sides despite Barca's inevitable dominance of the ball.

The England striker went down under pressure from Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta but was unable to continue and was replaced by Jay Rodriguez.

It is the latest in a long line of injury problems for Sturridge, who was making his second start for West Brom since joining on loan from Liverpool for the rest of the season.

The 28-year-old struggled for opportunities under Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, starting 20 of a possible 94 Premier League games under the German.

The hosts struggled to break down Arsene Wenger's side despite enjoying the majority of possession and will feel hard done by after crafting the best of the game's few openings in a lively game at Stamford Bridge on Thursday (NZ time).

Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen wasted the best of the hosts' opportunities, failing to find the target with two headers in the second half after Cesc Fabregas had also spurned a headed chance before the break.

The Brazilian substitute needed just 144 seconds on the field to make the impact boss Antonio Conte was looking for, with his attempted cross sailing over the head of Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and into the far corner on 85 minutes.

Salah, who tops the Premier League scoring charts, continued his fine form by coolly slotting his 10th goal of the campaign past Chelsea 'keeper Thibaut Courtois on 65 minutes. And he was almost the hero with a last-gasp strike from the edge of the box which was brilliantly parried away by Courtois.

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Ronald Koeman's 16-month stint in charge of Everton was brought to a halt on Monday, following a humiliating 5-2 home defeat to Arsenal that left them 18th in Premier League.

However, a rejuvenated second-half display showed Everton's quality - with a moment of magic from Willian in the 92nd minute ensuring that Dominic Calvert-Lewin's effort soon after was a mere consolation.

Antonio Conte's side suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Burnley at home on the opening day of the season and their victory over Tottenham at Wembley last time out owed much to doggedness and some timely slices of luck.

But the Blues preyed mercilessly upon an Everton side who showed signs of the toll trips to Manchester City and Hajduk Split this week had taken.

Fabregas was one of the villains against Burnley as he was sent off, but orchestrated his opening goal before the half hour.

For all the noise and wall of flags that greeted their arrival, Spurs needed an early goal to feel at ease in their new surroundings.

It was Chelsea, though, who made the breakthrough against the run of play on 23 minutes when Alonso thumped home a superb free kick from 20 metres after Dele Alli had fouled David Luiz.

The shock jolted Spurs who spent much of the game peppering Chelsea's goal, with Harry Kane hitting the post and Christian Eriksen also going close.

Costa revealed he would be interested in re-joining former club Atletico Madrid having been told by manager Antonio Conte that he does not feature in his plans for next season.