Barcelona are through to the Copa del Rey semi-finals following their 2-0 win over Espanyol in the second leg on Thursday night.

Having lost the reverse fixture 1-0 last week, Lionel Messi and co. needed to put on a show at the Camp Nou to turn the tie in their favour.

And that's exactly what they did.

It was basically game, set and match within 25 minutes as Barcelona took a 2-0 lead (2-1 on aggregate) thanks to goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.

Espanyol had just 25% possession and only two shots on target, so they were never going to recover when Barca went ahead.

Suarez struck in the ninth minute when Aleix Vidal put a beautiful cross into the box for the Uruguayan to head home.

And 16 minutes later Messi found the back of the net from 20 yards out, courtesy of a deflection from one of Espanyol's defenders.

Messi has been phenomenal for Barcelona this season, scoring 25 goals in all competitions, and there's genuine evidence to suggest he's only getting better.

But it's not just the goalscoring and assists department the Argentine has been so prolific in. Against Espanyol, he showed a very different side to his game.

Messi isn't necessarily renowned for his defending or tracking back, yet for both of Barcelona's goals, he was the one who battled with Espanyol's players to win back possession.

For Suarez's goal, Messi tracked back to the halfway line to intercept a loose pass and play in Vidal, who provided the assist.

And for his own goal, the 30-year-old initially lost the ball but then outmuscled a defender to win it back and shoot from the edge of the 18-yard box.

Check out the two moments below at 1:32 and 4:00.

MESSI DOING HIS DEFENSIVE DUTIES

Messi has shown down the years that he isn't one to give up when he loses possession and against Espanyol, he showed that fight to help give Barcelona the lead.

His performance was rewarded with a 9/10 rating by the Mirror, who said of the Argentine:

"Lovely ball to Vidal in the build up for the first goal and grabbed the second himself after winning it back. In the latter stages he hit the post and tied Espanyol defenders in knots."