Messi praises Ronaldo magical night against Atletico Madrid

Lionel Messi scored twice and assisted two more in the 5-1 win over Lyon at Camp Nou on Wednesday night, just 24hrs after Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Juventus to overturn a two-goal first leg deficit and grab a 3-2 aggregate win.

“What Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus did was impressive,” Messi told Marca.

“I thought Atletico Madrid would be tougher. Ronaldo had a magical night with three goals.”

Messi was coy about revealing his favoured opponents for the quarter-finals after a spree of upsets already, with Ajax vanquishing Real madrid and Manchester United knocking out Paris Saint-Germain.

“All of the opponent are complicated, Messi added.

“Ajax, for example, showed that they are an amazing team of youngsters and they don’t fear anyone.

“It’ll be difficult no matter who we face. We have to prepare ourselves for a tough challenge.”