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Messi strike completes Shakhtar trouncing

A Lionel Messi goal late in the first half earned Barca a 1-0 quarter-final second leg win in Ukraine, securing a 6-1 aggregate success that put the 2009 winners into the semis for a fourth consecutive season.

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The Spanish giants are set to clash four times in 18 days, including Saturday's La Liga match at the Bernabeu and the King's Cup final on April 20 in Valencia.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola will again lock horns with his Real counterpart Jose Mourinho, a former Barca assistant who engineered Inter Milan's victory over the Catalan club in last season's semis and led the Italian side on to the title before moving to the Spanish capital.

"We are competing for everything with the most powerful club in the world of football," Guardiola said in an interview with Spanish television.

"Both are great teams and the pressure is the same for each," he added. "In the end it's a game and now we have to work out how we can cause them damage."

The temperature was hovering just above freezing at Shakhtar's imposing Donbass Arena as the home side set about what was always likely to be an impossible mission against Guardiola's slick side.

Despite Barca's comfortable 5-1 lead from last week's first leg at the Nou Camp, the former Spain and Barca midfielder had warned his players not to underestimate their opponents and he decided against resting any of his first-choice players.