How does one stop Lionel Messi? Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola knew that if he had to beat his former club Barcelona, he would need to shut down the powerhouse that Messi is. However, at the Nou Camp on Thursday in the Champions League, Messi ran riot as he scored his 37th hat-trick in the 4-0 win against City to spoil Guardiola’s return to his former club.
A Messi show
Messi scored a brilliant hat-trick as Barcelona demolished 10-man Manchester City on Guardiola's return to his old club. Barcelona were ruthless in their approach as they contained City throughout the game. The evening got worse for Guardiola’s men as goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off for handling outside the box with Messi scoring two goals after that. The Catalans were also reduced to 10 men as substitute Jeremy Mathieu was shown a second yellow card for the night. Neymar missed a penalty, but made up for it immediately to complete the 4-0 mauling. The victory maintained Barcelona's 100% start in Group C and extended their lead over City to five points.
Ozil powers Gunners
Arsenal continued their dominating run as Mesut Ozil scored a brilliant hat-trick in their 6-0 thrashing against Ludogorets at the Emirates Stadium. Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were on target as Arsenal dismantled Ludogorets to continue a winning run that began after the Liverpool loss on the opening day of the Premier League season. The Gunners have won seven games in a row in all competitions — scoring 23 goals — and are undefeated in 11 matches. Victory puts Arsenal on top of Group A ahead of Paris St-Germain, who beat Basel 3-0, on goal difference.
Bayern hit four against PSV
Bayern Munich finally ended a three-game winless run by smashing four goals past Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich scored in the first half before PSV's Luciano Narsingh pulled one back before half-time. Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben both found the back of the net in the second half to stretch their side’s Champions League record to 14 successive home wins. Bayern remain three points behind Group D leaders Atletico Madrid, who won 1-0 against Rostov.
The scores
Arsenal 6 (Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil X 3) beat Ludogorets 0
Barcelona 4 (Lionel Messi X 3, Neymar) beat Manchester City 0
Bayern Munch 4 (Thomas Muller, Joshua Kimmich, Arjen Robben, Rober Lewandowski) beat PSV Eindhoven 1
Paris Saint-Germain 3 (Angel Di Maria, Lucas Moura, Edison Cavani) beat Basel 0
Dynamo Kyiv 0 lose to Benfica 2 (Eduardo Salvio, Franco Cervi)
Napoli 2 (Dreis Mertens, Manolo Gabbiadini) lose to Besiktas 3 (Adriano, Vincent Aboubakar X 2)
Celtic 0 lose to Borussia Moenchengladbach 2 (Lars Stindl, Andre Hahn)
FC Rostov 0 lost to Atletico Madrid 1 (Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco)