City announced the £100m ($139m) signing of Grealish from Aston Villa on August 5, the same day Barcelona revealed Messi would not be staying at the Camp Nou. A year ago, when Messi tried to force his departure from Catalonia, City appeared the most likely destination. Messi scored a hat-trick as Barca won 4-0 at the Camp Nou and he then put his side ahead in Manchester, but City won 3-1. His peak at the Camp Nou came in Guardiola's final season there, in 2011-12, when he scored an incredible 73 goals. Nobody knows Messi's game better than Guardiola, but nobody knows better than Pep that there is no stopping Messi when he is at the top of his game.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 27, 2021 12:45 UTC