Barca captain Messi opened the scoring with a "Panenka" penalty chipped straight down the middle in the 17th minute after Luis Suarez was fouled in the area, putting the home side ahead in the tie after a goalless first leg in France.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has given his backing to Xavi and says the veteran midfielder remains a valuable member of the squad despite having played just 45 minutes in the opening five La Liga games.
De Jong is proud to join the likes of compatriots Ronald Koeman, Frank de Boer and Patrick Kluivert in heading to the Nou Camp, having dreamed of wearing Barca colours.
A summary of Thursday's second leg quarter-final matches in the Europa League.
Real Zaragoza gained the upper hand in their King's Cup quarter-final against Barcelona when defender Carlos Diogo headed in 12 minutes from time to earn his side a 1-0 win in the first leg at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.
Real Madrid beat Leganes 4-2 on Wednesday despite resting key players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale as goals from Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez helped them stay top of La Liga after Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 win over Sevilla.
A summary of Wednesday night's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Lionel Messi ensured Barcelona maintained their eight-point lead over Real Madrid ahead of next weekend's Clasico, scoring twice as the leaders came back to beat basement side Almeria 3-1 in La Liga on Saturday.
Barcelona restored their lead at the top of La Liga standings to nine points after Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez each scored in a routine if underwhelming 3-0 win at home to struggling Levante on Sunday, with Paulinho increasing their lead in added time.
Following his debut, Messi made just eight more appearances for the first team that season.
Lionel Messi needs one goal to equal the Barcelona scoring record after Cesar Rodriguez's total was revised to 232 from 235, the La Liga club said.
Barcelona and Sevilla claimed the final two places in the King's Cup semi-finals on Thursday, Barca knocking out city rivals Espanyol 3-2 and Sevilla coming through on away goals against holders Valencia. Sevilla, the 2007 winners, will play Athletic Bilbao for a place in May's final in Valencia, while Barca take on Real Mallorca.
Barcelona have been keen to avoid overburdening new signing Neymar but Wednesday's Spanish Super Cup second leg at home to Atletico Madrid may see him included in the starting line-up for the first time.
'It's evident that we are in a hole, we aren't at our best at the moment nor our most effective.'
Barcelona hit out at the referee and his assistants for failing to award Lionel Messi's first half 'goal' in an action-packed 1-1 draw at Liga title rivals Valencia on Sunday.
Frenchman Lenglet's first league start since his 36 million-euro move from Sevilla turned sour when he was shown a straight red card in the 35th minute at the Nou Camp following a coming together with Pons, after referee Jesus Gil Manzano consulted the video assistant referee (VAR).
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Luis Suarez played a part in all three of Barcelona's goals in a scrappy 3-1 victory at Granada.
The enduring image of Luis Enrique for many soccer fans is the Spain player with blood gushing from his nose after a vicious elbow from Italy defender Mauro Tassotti during the 1994 World Cup quarter-final in Boston.
Barcelona forward Neymar finds himself at the centre of unwanted media attention in Spain as his struggling team's promising season threatens to unravel after a run of defeats. The Brazilian has not scored in his last five games and is being portrayed as one of the reasons for Barca's woes after three straight La Liga losses has seen them caught by Atletico Madrid, who have also knocked them out of the Champions League. Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia this week focused on the 24-year-old's conduct off the pitch, particularly his "trips away, parties at unadvisable times and commercial commitments". He visited Brazil in March for his sister's birthday party. TV programme 'El Dia Despues (The Day After) on Tuesday showed Neymar arguing with Jordi Ala during Sunday's home defeat by Valencia after the defender chose not to pass to him. Camera footage showed Neymar appearing to swear at his team mate. Barcelona play Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday looking to get their title bid back on track with the cover of newspaper Mundo Deportivo focusing on Neymar, pictured between Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, below the headline 'This cannot go on'.
A towering Diego Godin header secured Atletico Madrid a 1-1 draw against Barcelona and a first La Liga title for 18 years in a thrilling climax to the campaign on Saturday.
European champions Barcelona have refrained from making an official complaint against Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho for last week's eye poking incident and have called for an easing of tensions with their arch-rivals.
Barcelona and AC Milan can effectively seal their expected places in the Champions League knockout stage with three games remaining when they play rank outsiders Viktoria Plzen and BATE Borisov respectively in their Group H matches on Wednesday.
Barcelona midfielder and captain Xavi confirmed on Thursday he will leave his boyhood club at the end of the season and has agreed to join Qatari side Al Sadd after a glittering career stretching over 17 seasons.
Juve, Real and Barca said they were ready to reconsider the proposed approach of the breakaway project following the backlash, but said it would be "highly irresponsible" for them to abandon the project.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona have given forward Jeffren permission to quit their tour of the United States to negotiate a transfer to Sporting Lisbon, the European champions said on Monday.
Barcelona forward Neymar is reportedly looking forward to welcome Luis Suarez into his and Argentina captain Lionel Messi's star-studded strike partnership when the Uruguayan returns for his four-month ban this weekend.
Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale lashed home to deny La Liga champions Barcelona victory in an ill-tempered 'Clasico' which finished 2-2.
King's Cup holders Barcelona beat Real Sociedad 1-0 in their quarter-final first leg to end a nine-and-a-half year barren spell at home of the Basque side while Atletico Madrid crushed Eibar on Thursday.
Real Madrid's faltering title defence continued as they were held to a thrilling 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo on Sunday which saw them fall 16 points behind runaway leaders Barcelona, who beat Levante 3-0 to stay nine points clear at the top of La Liga.
The King's Cup final between record winners Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao on May 30 will be held at Barca's Nou Camp.
Luis Suarez had the Barcelona fans chanting his name after he set up Lionel Messi to score the opening goal in their King's Cup semis.
Bayern Munich cruised into a first all-German Champions League final when they routed Barcelona 3-0 at the Nou Camp on Wednesday to secure a crushing 7-0 aggregate success.
Lionel Messi may lack a World Cup for Argentina but his 10 years with Barcelona have seen him rewrite the history books and become symbolic with the club's golden era.
Real Madrid overcame an early howler from Sergio Ramos to beat Real Sociedad 3-1 at home on an eventful Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Gareth Bale was loudly booed by his own supporters and Luka Modric returned to his very best form.
Liverpool will be without forwards Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino when they face Barcelona in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final as they look to overturn a 3-0 deficit, manager Juergen Klopp said on Monday.
Barcelona came through a testing local derby at Espanyol, winning 3-0 to cling to their slender lead at the top of La Liga after rivals Real Madrid had set the challenge by beating Valencia 2-1 in the earlier kick-off.
Eibar coach Jose Luis Mendilibar was also dismissed later for angry protests against referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez.
