Barca finishes Bayern off in 45 minutes

FC Barcelona has snatched an impressive 4-0 victory over Bayern Munich in its Champions League quarterfinal first leg at the Nou Camp, leaving the Germans' hopes hanging on a thread. Lionel Messi gave Barca the lead when he calmly passed the ball into the net stroking in Samuel Eto'o's pass after nine minutes on Wednesday. Only three minutes later, Eto'o doubled the advantage on Messi's pass. He finished into the far corner through keeper Hans Jorg Butt's legs. Pep Guardiola's men added a third in the 38th minute when the 21-year-old Argentine magician Messi tapped in Henry's cross from close range. Frenchman Thierry Henry managed to make it 4-0 for an in-form Barca by sidefooting low into the far corner on Eto'o pass. "Obviously 4-0 in the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final match is incredible," said Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola. "We did almost everything right. Bayern have great players so it is difficult to beat them. The talent made the difference tonight. "(Jurgen) Klinsmann is right to say that 4-0 is a great result but Bayern are a great team so we have to keep our feet on the ground," he added. "The way we will do that is to focus on the next three points in the league and maintaining our six point gap at the summit." Jurgen Klinsmann, however, was disappointed at the way his players allowed their rivals to win the game, knowing that hi side now needs a miracle to qualify for the semis. "From my point of view, the match was a great disappointment," Klinsmann said after the game. "It is difficult to explain. The key was to fight for every ball but two goals early in the game did a lot of damage and we did not fight hard enough," he explained. "We need to overcome the criticism. It is a very hard defeat and difficult to digest."