Lionel Messi gave a scintillating display of his genius as Barcelona beat Manchester City 1-0 at the Nou Camp to cruise into the last eight of the Champions League courtesy of a 3-1 success on aggregate.
The Argentine was the Citizens’ tormentor-in-chief with a bewitching display of quick feet and sublime vision, repeatedly making his opponents look silly and creating the moment of magic that freed Ivan Rakitic to lob home the only goal of the night just past the half hour. The Barca talisman had the watching world gasping in awe as a flurry of cheeky nutmegs prior to half time left the away side chasing his shadow.
On another occasion the Catalans would have had a bagful but Neymar and Luis Suarez both hit the post while Joe Hart performed heroics in the City goal with a series of magnificent one-on-one stops, in what must go down as one of the most outstanding displays of his career to-date.
City did have a chance to make it interesting late on as they were awarded a penalty, but Sergio Aguero saw his tame effort saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen as the visitors could not stop the Spanish giants from securing an eighth straight quarter-final appearance in the competition.