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| Messi, Suarez and Neymar celebrate vs Man City |
Lionel Messi messied Manchester City on Wednesday night t the Camp Nou as he scored hat-trick to help Barça beat Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 4-0 to maintain their 100% win record in the competition this season and stay top of group C with 9 points from 9.
The scoreline is rather deceiving as Manchester City played well, but with Messi against them you don’t expect things to go your way. The Argentine scored three times and provided another for Neymar to give Barça a 4-0 win. Here’s how the players fared in the game.
BARCELONA 4-0 MANCHESTER CITY – PLAYER RATINGS
MARC ANDRE TER STEGEN – 8.5
A perfect game from the German. Made four spectacular saves with the highlight being his superb reflex save to deny Gundogan. His passing wasn’t the best but was still top. Great game, unbelievable clean sheet.
JAVIER MASCHERANO – 8.0
Started in an unfamiliar defensive right-back position and did perfectly well. His great press won the ball for Messi’s opener, passing was sublime, leadership in defence after Pique’s substitution was top draw.. finished the game as a central defender after Mathieu’s dismissal. His best performance this season.
GERARD PIQUÉ – 7.0
A rash tackle from Silva meant he was subbed off after 39 minutes with an injury. Was great before that, was perfect in his passing game..
SAMUEL UMTITI – 8.5
Didn’t get a foot wrong all night.. was perfect. Every Man City attack that reached his side got to a halt. So comfortable, calm and composed.. was very solid and came close to scoring.. superb performance.
JORDI ALBA – N/A
Picked up a knock and was subbed off after 10 minutes for Lucas Digne.
IVAN RAKITIC – 7.0
Not at his creative best but was solid in midfield and helped the team in numerous ways. Finished the game as a right-back.
SERGIO BUSQUETS – 7.0
Not his best game but far from a bad one. Broke Man City’s press on many occasions and his marking was sublime. Had it easy after Man City’s red card.
ANDRES INIESTA – 7.5
Fantastic once again.. got a hand in Messi’s first goal as his deflected cutback played Leo although he’ll have Fernandinho to thank after he slipped. Assisted Messi’s second goal also. Subbed off for André Gomes with 10 minutes left to play.
LIONEL MESSI – 10
Rarely got the ball at the early stages but always looked dangerous each time he does. Made a fool of Bravo to score the first and make Barça settle, grabbed the second via a magnificent shot and completed his hattrick thanks to a Suarez assist. Won a penalty which Neymar missed, covered his blushes by assisting him for Barça’s 4th. Best ever for a reason.
LUIS SUAREZ – 7.0
Constantly troubled the defence, almost got two goals but was denied by the side netting and Claudio Bravo. Assisted Messi’s third goal and caused Bravo’s red card that made things easier for Barça.
NEYMAR – 8.5
Was electric.. terrorised Manchester City’s right side on countless occasions. Missed a chance earlier and had a poor penalty saved but scored a beauty late on. Was superb.
SUBSTITUTES…
LUCAS DIGNE – 8.0
Replaced the injured Jordi Alba after 10 minutes and had a perfect game. Was perfect in defence and when going forward, intelligent and showed he’s capable of manning that left-back spot.
JEREMY MATHIEU – 4.5
Came on for Pique, was average and picked up two yellow cards in the space of three minutes to get himself sent off and making the game harder for Barça. Not a good game.
ANDRÉ GOMES – N/A
Replaced Iniesta for the final ten minutes of the game, didn’t do much.
LUIS ENRIQUE – 8.0
His option to play Mascherano as a defensive right-back paid off really well.. didn’t care much about possession and his idea to get the result first played a huge role in it.
THE TEAM – 8.0
The players were all great individually, the result a good one but not a dominant performance. Great work though.