Four-midable Messi era has truly arrived

TWO things we learned from last night’s action in the Nou Camp: don’t score first against Barcelona ‘cos you’ll only annoy them and, if Best was the most perfect name in football, Messi must be the most inapt.

Last week, we got an hour-long masterclass in team play at the Emirates. Last night, we got a solo tutorial, four goals from the world’s greatest player that left Arsenal not just beaten but bewitched and bewildered. Or, if you prefer footballing vernacular, battered – though that’s hardly the Barcelona way of putting opposition to the sword.

The blistering first might have had a little touch of fortune in the build-up except that you can’t help thinking that, like they used to say about Pele, Messi wouldn’t rule out playing a one-two off an opponent. The second was clinical, the third was audacious and the fourth, even if it required a second bite of the cherry, showed why many reckon the 22-year-old might yet eclipse Maradona.