Miracles do not happen twice. And never in the face of such genius.
The night belonged to Lionel Messi, destroying Manchester United with the sort of breathtaking performance which has established him as the greatest player of this and arguably any generation.
Messi’s first goal was a thing of beauty, a sensational 20-yard left-foot shot curled into the far corner to effectively kill off any United of doing the impossible.
His second was a collector’s item of a different kind as it came after a horrible mistake by David de Gea as the keeper who is held up the best in the world let a tame, routine shot go under his body.
That was it.
All over.
United showed some heart, but are nowhere near this Barcelona team — who are supposedly a fading force!
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But what can you expect when you are asking the likes of Fred and a fading Ashley Young to try to stop the world’s best player?
Paul Pogba looked like a man who did not want to be there. No big club will sign him on this evidence.
There was never going to be another Nou Camp miracle like 1999 when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer famously got United’s stoppage-time winner here to win the Champions League Final and complete their iconic Treble.
The world has changed since then.
United now look also-rans at this level and, even though they went for the fairytale option last month by appointing Solskjaer as manager, they will need a huge overhaul in the transfer market before they can start dreaming about a return to the glories his generation delivered.
For Barcelona, while they have Messi then anything is possible.
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The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is 32 in June but shows no signs of slowing down.
We should treasure every time he steps onto the pitch.
The world’s best defenders can't get close to him, let alone a patched-up United back four that looked scared and intimidated every time the little magician ran at them.
There was an incredible moment just before half time when Messi picked up the ball just inside the United half, beat poor Phil Jones twice, went back and did it again for good measure then nutmegged him to rub salt in the wounds.
The cruel thing for United was the hope because they actually started well, taking onboard Solskjaer’s pre-match rabble rousing message about repeating history and seizing the opportunity.
Inside 40 seconds, Pogba released Marcus Rashford to crash a shot against the crossbar. Scott McTominay also had a brief sight of goal as the visitors started with real intent.
But the mood changed after ten minutes.
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German referee Felix Brych was hasty in giving Barcelona a penalty for Fred’s challenge on Ivan Rakitic. Brych changed his mind after looking again at the VAR screen.
The reprieve was brief, though.
Young lost possession in the left-back slot, Messi seized possession, threw a shimmy which wrong-footed Fred and then unleashed a sensational curling left-foot shot into the bottom corner.
A great goal, but probably not even in Messi’s personal top ten.
Five minutes later, the tie was over.
Fred was at fault again, Messi stormed forward and while his shot was lame it somehow crept under De Gea’s body.
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That was Messi’s 110th Champions League goal, 24 of them against English opposition, and 597 overall for Barcelona. The man's stats are nearly as incredible as his dribbling.
Worse was to follow.
Barcelona’s former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho set up a potential semi-final against his previous club with a sensational curling right foot shot from 20 yards which flew past de Gea and into the top corner after 62 minutes.
There was no stopping them.
Messi nearly got a hat-trick with an overhead kick and the best thing you could say about United was they kept going, Alexis Sanchez denied by a brilliant save from Marc-Andre ten Stegen.
United are way off being genuine contenders on the European stage, and face a battle over the coming weeks to even get back into the Champions League for next season.
Solskjaer left the Nou Camp pitch looking like a man in need of another miracle.
