Messi hat trick powers Barcelona to Champions League rout of Guardiola's Man City

Lionel Messi celebrates his third in Barcelona’s 4-0 thrashing of Man City. (Getty Images) Pep Guardiola may be in the process of building a fine Barcelona replica with Manchester City, but when faced with the real deal on Wednesday, it was painfully clear that there isn’t yet a substitute for Barca’s ball-wizardry machine. Or indeed for Lionel Messi. The little magician scored a hat trick in the 4-0 Barca win, with Neymar getting the final goal, as the game ended with both sides reduced to 10 men. [ Champions League: Matchday 3 Live | Scoreboard | Group Standings ] Guardiola was demonstratively glad to return to the soccer cathedral where he made his name as both a midfielder and as a manager, giddily embracing his former teammate and successor Luis Enrique in the tunnel prior to the game. But it was not a happy return. After a tentative start between sides fully cognizant of the other’s many tools for hurting them, a series of lovely Barca attacks eventually culminated in a first goal. Andres Iniesta’s backheel opened up room for Luis Suarez, but that play broke down. But then, in the 17th minute, Javier Mascherano – playing as a makeshift right back – won the ball in City’s half. Messi raced off with it and played in Iniesta. The latter laid the ball back into the middle of the box, where no City defender reacted as quickly as Messi did – with Fernandinho slipping and the rest of them looking statuesque. The Argentine picked it up again and rounded former teammate Claudio Bravo to score easily.

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