Barcelona are firmly in control of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) round of 16 tie with Chelsea after Argentine superstar Lionel Messi scored his first ever goal against Chelsea to secure an impressive 1-1 draw away to the Blues at Stamford Bridge in their first leg clash.

Paulinho had the first major half chance of the game but scuffed his header wide before Willian struck both posts before halftime.

The impressive Brazilian gave Chelsea the lead midway into the second half before Messi levelled matters for his side off an assist from Andres Iniesta after a rare error from the Chelsea rearguard.

The goal from Messi was his 1st against Chelsea in 730 minutes of football and it was enough to put Barcelona in charge of the tie ahead of their second leg encounter at the Nou Camp in 22 days’ time.

In the other UCL tie on Tuesday night, Bayern Munich thrashed 10-man Besiktas 5-0 at home in their first leg clash to all but book a place in the next round.

Besiktas played the majority of the game with a man down after Domagoj Vida was sent off after 16 minutes.

Thomas Mueller gave the Bavarian giants a first half lead before further goals from Kingsley Coman, Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski (2) in the second half rendered the second leg in Turkey almost inconsequential.