Barcelona welcomed Manchester City to the Camp Nou on Wednesday and showed their class as they claimed a 4-0 victory.

Both sides looked to ease into their possession games early on as each outfit sought to build from the back and press the opposition high up the pitch.

Barcelona broke the deadlock in fortuitous circumstances in the 17th minute as a Fernandinho slip let in Lionel Messi, who walked the ball past Claudio Bravo before passing the ball into the back of the net.

With Messi beginning to cause problems, the Argentine created a great chance for Ivan Rakatic off a free kick, but the Croatian could not hit the target with half an hour gone.

Nolito forced a save from Marc-Andre Ter Stegen after 36 minutes before a lovely piece of skill from Ilkay Gundogan forced a second save in quick succession. Kevin de Bruyne then forced yet another save on the stroke of half-time, but at the interval, the score remained 1-0.

City started the second half in the worst possible way as Bravo deliberately handled outside the box, subsequently getting sent off. 10 minutes later Messi scored his and Barca’s second, slotting his finish following a City error.

Messi had his hat-trick after 69 minutes as another error let in Luis Suarez, who squared for the Argentine to tap home.

Barca were reduced to 10 men themselves just four minutes later as Jeremy Mathieu was received his marching orders for a second bookable offense.

A superb piece of skill from Messi earned Barca a penalty in the 87th minute but the subsequent spot kick was wasted by Neymar, whose effort was easily saved.

The Brazilian did grab a goal before the final whistle sounded, however, as he worked space in the box before curling home.

At full time it was Barcelona who took the spoils by a dominant 4-0 scoreline.