Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger claims Arsenal were torn apart by 'the best player in the world' in Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
The Argentina international hit all four goals as the Catalans eased to a 4-1 win at the Nou Camp for a 6-3 aggregate win on Wednesday, sending them into the semi-final.
And Wenger had no complaints about the result as he told Sky Sports: "For me, he is the best player in the world by a distance.
"He is not always in the game, but when he is in it he is really dangerous. Once he is on the run with the ball he is unstoppable.
"He is the only player who can change direction at such a pace and be a threat.
"We lost against a team that is better than us and has the best player in the world. Congratulations to Barcelona, they were better than us."
Despite his praise for Messi and the holders, Wenger felt his side let themselves down at both ends of the pitch over the two legs.
He added: "We had opportunities. The regret we have is that at 1-0 we had great opportunities to score a second goal.
"Over the two games, for a team like Arsenal, we gave really cheap goals away.
"Defensively we gave them the goals, they didn't have to work hard enough.
"They didn't look really dangerous, but when you have players like Messi, any mistake you will pay for it."
Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner conceded his team had been comprehensively outclassed by the holders.
Bendtner, who has scored key goals for the Gunners in recent weeks, opened the scoring in the Nou Camp to put Arsene Wenger's men into the lead in the tie for the first time, but the visitors had no answer to the holders, who hit back emphatically with the inspired Messi at the heart of their display.
"They were the better team and sometimes you lose like that," the Denmark striker told Sky Sports 2.
"They played some really good football. If you are going to lose, you want to lose by the other team playing you off the pitch. They were stronger than us today.
"We made a great start and it was very important in the five minutes after that we were tight. But in the end, if you look at the whole game they were a better team and deserved to win."
The Arsenal forward echoed his manager's claims: "Messi scored four fantastic goals and is a phenomenal player in a great team. At the moment, I would say he is the best player in the world.
"It is easy to make up excuses, on the day, with what happened they were a better team than us.
"I would rather get beat by a better team, to be able to say we did what we could, rather than be robbed in the last minute."
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