Lionel Messi marked his return to the Barcelona starting line-up with a hat-trick as a 4-0 win over 10-man Manchester City preserved a perfect start to this season's Champions League campaign for Luis Enrique's men.
Messi came off the bench following a groin injury to score in the 4-0 weekend win over Deportivo La Coruna and he netted a 17th-minute opener at Camp Nou on Wednesday.
City boss Pep Guardiola was back at the ground with which he will for ever be inextricably linked and his team posed plenty of questions either side of Barcelona going in front, until a mindless red card for Claudio Bravo resulted in the game racing away from them.
In the 53rd minute, the former Barcelona goalkeeper – whose arrival at Guardiola's behest prompted Joe Hart's Torino loan exile – handled Luis Suarez's shot having failed to clear danger outside his area.
It was the fourth time in five Champions League defeats to Barcelona that City found themselves operating with reduced numbers and a little over a quarter of an hour later, Messi made the matchball his own.
A pair of rash challenges from Barcelona substitute Jeremy Mathieu meant the closing stages were a 10-a-side affair, but the LaLiga champions were already safely established five points above City at the Group C summit and could even absorb a late Neymar penalty miss, for which the Brazilian compensated by adding the fourth.
Sergio Aguero being stationed on the visitors' bench hogged the immediate pre-match attention, but Luis Enrique had to delve into his subs early on when Jordi Alba limped off to be replaced by Lucas Digne.
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