FC Barcelona sealed their place in the last 16 of the Champions League as group winners with an entertaining 3-1 win at home to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night.

Barca went into the game after some unconvincing displays in recent games, but after Marc Andre Ter Stegen got them out of trouble following a defensive lapse in the first minute, Ernesto Valverde's side produced their best 45 minutes of the season.

Luis Suarez saw a goal disallowed in the 22nd minute for a narrow offside decision after a pass from Leo Messi, but the pair combined in the same fashion seven minutes later to finish another Messi pass to split the Dortmund defense.

Barca suffered a setback when Ousmane Dembele had to leave the pitch against his former club with an apparent muscle injury to be replaced by Antoine Griezmann, but with Ivan Rakitic enjoying his return in midfield, they remained in control and Messi doubled the lead with a left foot shot following a pass from Suarez in the 33rd minute.

Griezmann drew a sharp save from Dortmund keeper Roman Burki at the start of the second half, but got his goal in the 68th minute with a shot across the keeper after another pass from... guess who: Messi.

The Argentinean then hit the crossbar with a free kick as Barca continued to dominate before England international Jaydon Sancho scored an excellent individual goal that left Ter Stegen helpless.

Rakitic left the pitch straight afterwards to a standing ovation as the Barca fans gave a message that the Croatian has to play more and he was replaced by Arturo Vidal.

In the 87th minute Sancho drew a fingertip save from Ter Stegen, who tipped his shot from the edge of the area onto the bar to assure a calmer finish to the game than it would have been if Sancho had netted a second goal. 

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