Barcelona punished a competitive Manchester City in their Champions league group stage encounter.

Lionel Messi made a thrilling comeback from injury with a goal in the 17th minute. Iniesta then set-up the Argentine for a left-footed shot that hit the bottom corner.

City’s troubles continued when goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off for handling outside the box and minutes later Messi found the back of the net to complete his hat-trick.

Barcelona also lost a man during the last 15 minutes when substitute Jeremy Mathieu was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Raheem Sterling. Willy Caballero saved a late Neymar penalty but the Brazilian avenged his miss when he scored just before full-time to seal the win for the La Liga side.

The victory meant that Barcelona maintained a 100% start in Group C and extended their lead over City to five points.

• Gvt. implements plan to issue delayed driving licenses via third party
• Import restrictions on many goods, lifted
• Committee appointed to look into SLTB season ticket fee revision
• Jaffna private tuition classes banned on Friday evenings and Sundays
• Donald Trump charged with 37 counts, including compromising military and nuclear secrets