Welcome to LIVE text coverage of the Champions League last 16 first leg between Bayer Leverkusen and Barcelona at the BayArena.

Let me know what you thought of that game by heading over to Twitter now.

FULL TIME. Sanchez with two and Messi with the third as Barcelona take a huge step towards the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The win was fully deserved and Leverkusen now have a huge task ahead of them at Camp Nou.

It's all over bar the shouting now, both tonight and in terms of the tie as a whole.

Danny Da Costa replaces Corluka late on.

Schuerrle comes off to be replaced by Karim Bellarabi.

GOAL! Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 Barcelona! Messi gets the goal his performance deserves! Messi plays Alves through on goal and the Brazilian has a great chance to score, only to instead fire in a cross to his team-mate, who has charged 20 yards to slide in and convert.

Schuerrle tests Valdes from range but the Barca keeper is equal to it.

Thiago goes into the book for a late aerial challenge on Friedrich.

Sanchez, scorer of two goals, comes off to be replaced by Isaac Cuenca.

Sanchez with a great chance! He meets a corner from the left with a glancing header but Leno does superbly well to get a hand to it and save.

Mascherano and Kiessling go in shoulder to shoulder but the German is punished with a foul. Never a free kick.

Messi gets possession of the ball 35 yards from goal, looks for the pass but realises it isn't on and instead drives into the box himself before firing in a low effort that Leno saves well.

Sneaky from Busquets as he bundles Castro over by the touchline before landing heavily on the running track. Unbelievably, though, Castro is booked! A crazy decision.

Kiessling is straight into the action. Castro produces a fantastic dipping cross into the box and the striker gets his head to the ball, only to see Valdes dive and catch his effort.

Stat from Opta: "Starting with his goal in the 2009 final, Lionel Messi has scored 27 goals in his last 28 Champions League starts, including six in five this season."

A change for Leverkusen as Simon Rolfes is replaced by Stefan Kiessling. A midfielder for a striker: that's a positive sign from the home side.

Now Messi turns provider again when dinking a pass over the top for Alves, but Kadlec comes across to clear behind for a corner.

Messi takes possession and slides the ball out to Pedro but the substitute's first touch is horrid and allows a defender to come across and clear.

What a moment from Messi! He darts between two markers when coming in from the right and lifts his shot over Leno, only to see it come off the outside of the upright. So unlucky.

Leno does superbly to hare off his line and throw himself at the feet of Thiago, who is therefore unable to control a fine through-ball and convert.