UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Messi Punishes Guardiola’s Man City with Hat-trick

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick as Barcelona punished 10-man Manchester City in the Champions League on Pep Guardiola’s return to his old club last night.

City was competitive in the first half, but made far too many errors against a ruthless Barcelona revelling in Messi’s return from injury.

A Fernandinho slip inside his own box put Messi clear for his first, then Kevin de Bruyne lost possession allowing Andres Iniesta to set up the Argentine for a left-footed strike into the bottom corner.

The evening got worse for the visitors when goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off for handling outside the box and minutes later Messi struck again.

Barcelona was also reduced to 10 men in the last 15 minutes as substitute Jeremy Mathieu was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Raheem Sterling, but by then the damage had been done.

Willy Caballero saved a late Neymar penalty – but the Brazilian scored from open play minutes later to complete a comprehensive win for the La Liga side.

The victory maintained Barcelona’s 100 per cent start in Group C and extended their lead over City to five points.

And it was another miserable return to the Nou Camp for Guardiola. During his celebrated four-year tenure as Barcelona manager the Catalan won 14 trophies, but he has now twice lost heavily to the Spaniards – the other being a 3-0 first-leg semi-final defeat with Bayern Munich.

Messi’s compatriot Sergio Aguero was only named on the substitutes’ bench for City as Guardiola chose De Bruyne in the ‘false nine’ position, with Raheem Sterling, David Silva and Nolito in support.

If it was a surprising decision, the tactics were largely effective in the first half as City, crowding the midfield and pressing high, proved Barcelona’s equal in terms of possession and passes and were undone by the sort of mistake it is impossible to protect against.

The visitors had chances of their own too. Nolito forced Marc-Andre ter Stegen into action, while John Stones should have headed home a wonderful David Silva free-kick.

But City’s fate was sealed before the hour when Bravo clumsily passed to Suarez and, despite being outside the box, instinctively saved the striker’s chip, leaving referee Milorad Mazic with little option but to send him off.

To add to City’s woes Pablo Zabaleta was forced from the field, the captain injured in the build-up to Bravo’s sending-off and replaced with Gael Clichy. City reverted to a three-man defence, but more goals followed.

Elsewhere on the night, Mesut Ozil scored a hat-trick after stunning goals from Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott as Arsenal dismantled Ludogorets Razgrad in a ruthless Champions League display.

Sanchez got the first with a masterful chip from just inside the box.

Walcott powered a curling shot home after Ludogorets’ Wanderson hit a post.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain smashed a loose ball into the corner for the third, before Ozil scored three times in a game for the first time in his career.

The Gunners have now won seven games in a row in all competitions – scoring 23 goals – and are undefeated in 11 matches.

Their last defeat was at home to Liverpool on the opening day of the Premier League season.

Victory over Bulgarian champions Ludogorets means Arsenal top Group A ahead of Paris St-Germain, who beat Basel 3-0, on goal difference.