Lionel Messi was irresistible, Barcelona were unstoppable and Manchester City, after shooting themselves in the foot, were left in tatters. In a match that was all about Pep Guardiola returning "home", that particular return turned into a nightmare as Barca ran riot in the Champions League.
Messi was the architect of City's demise, scoring a sumptuous hat-trick, while Neymar added the icing in a 4-0 victory at the Camp Nou.
The result might not have been so lopsided had Manchester City been able to keep all 11 men on the pitch, with the game turning completely Barcelona's way after Claudio Bravo, the goalkeeper who moved from the Spanish club to the Premier League last summer, saw a straight red for a handball outside his box.
While all the positive talk after the match was about Messi and his brilliance, the negative aspect was all about Bravo, the keeper who was brought in by Guardiola, after the manager decided to end Joe Hart's career with the club.
"There will be no change [of goalkeeper]," Guardiola said when asked about Bravo's future. "It stays the same. Football is a game of mistakes. He knows what he did. He has a lot of experience and he's one of the best goalkeepers in the last 10 years. I don't have doubts about him. He's disappointed but he will learn from that."
Guardiola admitted the match was as good as over when Bravo was sent off in the 53rd minute, with Barcelona only leading 1-0 at the time.
"It is hard to play Barca, but until we went down to ten players, it was open and we were competing against a team with a big personality," the former Barcelona manager added. "But after the red card, it was over. Every game since Celtic has been the same – we have had own goals, missed penalties and we need to change the way things have been going."
