Manchester City have have the honour of lining up against the one and only Lionel Messi when he was at both Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
However, Messi has punished City on several instances and made their meetings a nightmarish experience more often than the English giants would have liked.
In eight appearances against Manchester City, Lionel Messi has registered seven goals and three assists while winning six times and losing just twice.
| LIONEL MESSI RECORD VS MANCHESTER CITY | |
| APPEARANCES | 8 |
| WINS | 6 |
| LOSSES | 2 |
| GOALS | 7 |
| ASSISTS | 3 |
But in the 2014/2015 season, the Argentine and Barcelona ran riot against City despite the scoreline reading 3-1 over both legs in the Champions League last-16.
Suarez scored a brace in the first leg which ended 2-1 and while Sergio Aguero’s late goal sparked the hope of a potential comeback from Manchester City, Gael Clichy was sent off shortly after as the Spanish giants emerged triumphant.
Considering Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar were at their brilliant best at the time and went on to win the treble, it was a surprise to witness the game ending just 2-1 in the visitors’ favour at the Etihad Stadium.
Lionel Messi called Man City legend Joe Hart a “phenomenon” in 2015
In the second leg, Messi scored the only goal in the contest as Barcelona won 1-0 but the scoreline was a respectable one once again for Manchester City due to how incredible Joe Hart was in the clash remembered for his heroics.
The retired shotstopper made miraculous saves time and again to give City the hope that they could potentially stage a comeback at any point. Gael Clichy raved about Joe Hart and went as far as to claim that he is the best goalkeeper the Premier League has seen in years, who went on to start just once under Pep Guardiola before departing the Etihad Stadium.
Barcelona completely outclassed City in 2015, however with Joe Hart standing out as he made some of the best stops one will ever come across – one of them being a close-range save where he made himself big and kept Messi’s attempt from going in.
The World Cup winner was impressed to say the least, describing the Englishman as a “phenomenon” after the contest.
Joe Hart, who Vincent Kompany called a “leader” was lauded by Messi while speaking to UEFA.com: “Joe Hart had an absolutely fantastic game.”
“I already knew he was a top ‘keeper but it was impressive in this performance, how he just stopped everything that came his way, with either his hands or his body, he is a phenomenon. The fortunate thing, given all that, was we managed to get through the tie, which was all we wanted, so that we could be in Friday’s quarter-final draw.”
Why Messi sent Joe Hart a bottle of beer in 2022
The fact that arguably the best performance of Joe Hart’s career came against Messi of all players is something he can always brag about.
But perhaps another honour Joe Hart had that was linked to Messi is when the great man sent him and all the 120 goalkeepers he had scored against a bottle of Budweiser after reaching a record-breaking 644th goal for Barcelona in 2022.
Hart would have felt honoured to be a part of Messi’s history, despite conceding two goals to him as he is arguably the greatest player of all time.
