The Nutmeg Fest

Once in a while sports fans are treated to a very special performance. One that they will cherish and remember for the rest of their lives. Tyson unifying the boxing belts, Curtly Ambrose's 7 for 1 spell against the Australians … you get idea.

March 18, 2015 was one such day when one man and his team showed how a great team can demolish a good team.

The penalty miss in the first leg of the Manchester City-Barcelona tie and the headlines that followed – MESSI MISSES!!! Leo Loses Killer Instinct - had a telling effect. 

The English, being English, were crass enough to add insult to injury, making a lot of noise about why their brand of football was better and that the Spanish style was dying if not dead already.

And so Man City arrived for a match without realising the humiliation that was waiting. 

For Messi was a man possessed. He brought the crowd to its feet, bewitched us with his footwork, found gaps that didn’t seem to exist and danced past opponents in a way that took the art of dribbling to its highest level. Oohs and aahs turned to a chant of Messi, Messi, Messi from the 92,500 strong Nou Camp.

Messi was at an exhilarating peak and that, in football terms, is an exquisite form of bullying. James Milner, who may be a possible England captain, made the mistake of diving in at one point. The nutmeg from Messi left him on his backside and, high in the stands, former mentor and coach, Pep Guardiola could be seen howling with laughter at the impudence. By that stage Messi had already done it to Fernandinho though Neymar was first. 

The nutmeg is one of football's classiest insults. It happened to Fernandinho twice in 15 minutes as the Brazilian and Argentinian took turns to humiliate him.

Neymar was bright, Suarez busy, though in all it was a beautifully choreographed show from Messi. At times he would just deceptively amble around. Suddenly he would be on the ball, picking up speed, causing mayhem. It was a masterclass.

If it wasn't for City's goal keeper Joe Hart playing out of skin, the score-line would have been 6-0 or 7-0. Hart’s brilliance was such that Luis Suarez, though he was foiled multiple times, gave him a warm and long hug at the final whistle, which also blew out the last English team from the tournament.

Despite their attempts to play, Man City faced a huge problem, getting hold of the ball. Barca's players kept the ball with such focus and when they did give up possession they hunted in a pack to get it back.

Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Vincent Kompany, Kun Aguero were all handed their heads during those magical 90 minutes that Messi lit up for us and made us glad that we too had seen him play.