Chelsea were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday night thanks to some Lionel Messi magic.

Messi grabbed two goals either side of Ousmane Dembele's 20th-minute strike, which the Argentine also assisted after beating three Chelsea players.

But by no means did Chelsea play poorly at the Camp Nou - to the contrary, in fact.

Antonio Conte's men actually dominated various stages of the game and came close to pulling a goal back, but for some stunning blocks from Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti.

Indeed, in the opening 20 minutes of the second period, Messi and co. barely had a touch of the ball as Chelsea were on the front foot.

Individual errors ultimately cost the Blues. Thibaut Courtois should have done better for Messi's opener, while Cesc Fabregas was dispossessed too easily in the build up to the second.

Cesar Azpilicueta then gave the ball away in a dangerous area for the third, with Messi once again firing through Courtois' legs.

However, there's an argument to be made that refereeing decisions also didn't work in Chelsea's favour as they looked to haul themselves back into the game.

Chelsea perhaps should have been awarded a penalty in the second half when Marcos Alonso appeared to be brought down by Pique when put through one-on-one.

Alonso went down softly, there's no doubt, but there was contact and the referee was in a great position to see the incident.

He waved away the penalty calls, though, which left Chelsea fans - and a certain Michael Ballack - absolutely furious.

In reaction to a penalty not being given, Ballack posted the saltiest of tweets which has how gone viral. Check it out below.

BALLACK HATING ON REFEREES - AGAIN

"Same old story #referee," the German tweeted in a blatant reference to what happened between Chelsea and Barcelona in the 2008/09 Champions League semi-finals.

Chelsea were denied a number of clear-cut penalties that day by referee Tom Henning Ovrebo, who received death threats for his performance in the aftermath.

Ballack led the protests and clearly still feels very bitter about the fact Barcelona went on to win that game, with Andres Iniesta grabbing a late winner.