Barca-Man City 4-0: Messi's difference-making ability.

(Baonghean.vn) - The Catalan giants secured a resounding 4-0 victory against the powerful English team. Messi scored a hat-trick, while Neymar scored the remaining goal to seal the 4-0 win. Despite knowing the danger posed by his star player, coach Pep Guardiola was still unable to stop the goalfest at the Nou Camp. Messi was the difference between Barca and Man City.

Messi is the biggest difference between Barca and Man City.

Twelve years ago, Messi made his debut in a Barcelona shirt. Over a decade at Camp Nou, he has won 5 Ballon d'Or awards, 4 Champions League titles, and 8 La Liga titles. Catalans believe that to this day, no player has evoked the same level of emotion in the fans as Messi, not even Ronaldinho or Ronaldo.

Pep Guardiola was the first coach to recognize Messi's natural talent and took a risk by pushing Ronaldinho aside to give Messi more opportunities. Guardiola allowed the 21-year-old to start from the left wing and run wherever he wanted. This is what made Messi more dangerous than any other player, and Pep Guardiola's coaching abilities were quickly proven.

Despite trying everything, Pep Guardiola still couldn't prevent Messi from scoring.

In the Champions League, Messi has scored 7 hat-tricks, far surpassing Ronaldo (5). This season alone, Messi has scored 2 hat-tricks, including 3 against Celtic in the opening match. More broadly, Messi has scored 37 hat-tricks for Barcelona: 7 in the Champions League, 1 in the Spanish Super Cup, 3 in the Copa del Rey, and 26 in La Liga. Messi currently has 50 Champions League goals at Camp Nou, surpassing the previous record held by Raul Gonzalez (49 goals), a living legend of Real Madrid. In the Champions League group stage, Messi and Raul currently hold the record for scoring 53 goals, and this record will almost certainly be broken in the near future.

Pep Guardiola returned to Camp Nou, where he began his career and achieved considerable success with Barca. However, with four goals conceded (not including Neymar's missed penalty), this was truly a nightmare for the Catalan manager. Many factors contributed to Manchester City's disastrous defeat, but one cannot ignore Messi, who inspired his Barca teammates after a long period of injury recovery.

With him in the team, the Messi-Suarez-Neymar trio played incredibly well, causing midfielder Fernandinho to stumble and fall. Then, Otamendi inexplicably stood rooted to the spot, watching Lionel control the ball, face Bravo one-on-one, beat the goalkeeper before shooting into the empty net to open the scoring.

In the 53rd minute, even goalkeeper Bravo, a former Barca player, carelessly rushed out of the penalty area to clear the ball directly to Luis Suarez's feet, leaving him with no choice but to use his hand to block Suarez's lob. The referee had no choice but to show Bravo a red card, marking the beginning of Manchester City's downfall.

Pep Guardiola instructed his players to do everything possible to stop Lionel Messi's attacks, but due to the intense pressure, Kevin de Bruyne himself initiated a Barca attack by losing the ball in midfield, allowing Messi to double the lead. Furthermore, under pressure, Guendogan made a careless back pass that turned into a through ball for Suarez to run onto, and he crossed the ball to Messi, who easily completed his hat-trick.

Barca played brilliantly and captivatingly, and the four goals against Man City also helped the Messi-Suarez-Neymar trio surpass the 100-goal mark in 2016. Specifically, the MSN trio scored 103 goals, with Suarez scoring 42, Messi 40, and Neymar 21.

In the Champions League group stage, they won all three matches, scoring 13 goals and conceding only one, seemingly securing their place in the knockout round. Losing to a strong team like Barca, with the best players on the planet like Messi, Suarez, and Neymar, Pep Guardiola was probably disappointed but not overly so.

An Thanh