Thursday's Champions League group stage draw yielded one matchup no football fan in the world will want to miss: Pep Guardiola's new club, Manchester City, versus his formative one, Barcelona. It won't be Guardiola's first return to his old stomping grounds. During the 2014-15 Champions League semi-finals, Guardiola's Bayern Munich came up against Barca.
Facing many of his old players, Guardiola faced the question every manager coming up against Barcelona must face: how to stop Lionel Messi. Unfortunately for Guardiola, Barcelona's attacking trio was in inspired form throughout the two legs.
At the Camp Nou, Messi was particularly brilliant. Relive that classic encounter with this photo collection.
Pep Guardiola makes his return to the Camp Nou.
All eyes were on Pep Guardiola as he made his return to the Camp Nou with Bayern Munich. Could he devise a way to stop Messi, Suarez, Neymar and company?
Manuel Neuer repelled one Barcelona attack after another.
For over an hour, Barcelona threatened to turn the game into a blowout. Fortunately for Bayern, they had the world's best goalkeeper between the sticks. Neuer kept Barca at bay for over an hour.
Lionel Messi got his deserved first goal in the 77th minute.
Lionel Messi finally found a way past Manuel Neuer in the 77th minute. Following some sloppy play from Bayern, the ball was quickly played to Messi. From outside the box, he unleashed a ferocious drive that beat Neuer at his near post.
Messi posterizes Jerome Boateng.
Just three minutes after Messi's opening goal, he scored again. His second was one of the most sensational goals the Champions League has ever seen. What he did to Jerome Boateng was just cruel — twisting and turning the German defender so that he fell to the ground.
Lionel Messi destroyed Boateng and then Neuer.
After leaving Jerome Boateng for dead, Messi finished this exquisite passage of play with a sublime chip over Manuel Neuer.
Neymar celebrates scoring Barcelona's third goal on the night.
In second-half stoppage time, Neymar dealt Bayern a killer blow by scoring Barcelona's third goal on the night, effectively killing the tie before the second leg in Munich.
