Lionel Messi Admits He Was Lucky to Score Both Goals Against Manchester United

Barcelona star Lionel Messi admited that he needed a slice of luck to find the back of the net against Manchester United on Tuesday, but insisted the club deserved to progress from their quarter-final match.

The Blaugrana had to survive an early onslaught from United but they quickly grabbed control of the game thanks to Messi's strike after 16 minutes, where he capitalised on a mistake from Ashley Young before finding the back of the net.

The Argentine's second needed even more good fortune as Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea fumbled a tame shot into his own net, while Philippe Coutinho rounded off the scoring from distance.

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But Messi insisted that despite his own luck, Barcelona are worth their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

"It was spectacular," Messi said, quoted by Marca. "This is who we are. We were cold and nervous for the first five minutes. I don't know why, but then we took control.

"I was lucky [on the first goal]. The second I had even more luck. But the important thing is that we achieved our goal of reaching the semi-finals, which we hadn't for a long time."

Barcelona's win against Manchester United has also seen them take another step closer to winning the treble this season, but Messi stressed that the club had to take the rest of the campaign in bitesize pieces.

"Let's take it step by step, little by little," he added. "Now we have La Liga Santander and we can't relax, before dealing with the semi-finals with the respect it deserves."