Lionel Messi broke the Champions League all-time goal-scoring record as he netted a hat-trick in Barcelona's 4-0 win over APOEL this evening.
The Argentine found the back of the net three times after Luis Suarez had opened the scoring with his first goal for the club.
The win leaves the club second in Group F, a point off top spot, while the Cypriot champions remain bottom.
Here, Sport Mole takes a closer look at the result.
Match statistics
APOEL
Shots: 21
On target: 7
Possession: 77%
Corners: 7
Fouls: 5
BARCELONA
Shots: 3
On target: 1
Possession: 23%
Corners: 0
Fouls: 16
Was the result fair?
Anything other than a comfortable Barcelona win would have been grossly unfair after their performance this evening. They dominated the match from the start, and continued to look a class apart even when they were a man down. The home side will be disappointed by the scoreline as they defended superbly for the first 25 minutes, but the effort took it out of them and they could not compete with the Spanish side. It was definitely the right result.
APOEL's performance
The Cypriot champions struggled to stop their opponents from running at them in the first half, and were unable to string together more than a few passes at a time throughout the match. They did defend in a well-organised and clinical manner at the start of the first half as they tried to keep Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez out, but they could not hold on forever, and crumbled after conceding the opening goal. They had a bright spell in the second half when they had a man advantage, but could not prevent Messi sealing the hat-trick once they went down to 10 men themselves late on.
Barcelona's performance
The La Liga side were on the attack from the start, although they struggled to put the APOEL goalkeeper under pressure early on. Once they got the breakthrough though, they always looked like adding to their score. The defenders did not have too much to do as the hosts struggled to get forward. The performance was blighted by the dismissal of Rafinha in the second half, as well as Dani Alves's booking, which rules both players out of their final group stage match next month.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Lionel Messi: The Argentine created most of the chances in the opening half-hour, mainly for strike partner Suarez, and found the target himself before the break with a right-footed flick. He added two more in the second half to complete his hat-trick after the first had made him the Champions League's all-time top scorer, and always looked dangerous while going forward both as a provider and potential goal-scorer.
Biggest gaffe
There were a few disciplinary issues from both sides, but Joao Guilherme's red card was probably the worst of them. Rafinha's dismissal did not seem to harm his side, but his exit had allowed the hosts to get a few shots away. However, once the APOEL defender picked up his second booking for a needless late tackle, Barcelona were able to come back at APOEL, allowing Messi to get his third goal of the night.
Referee performance
Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi had a pretty tidy night in the middle. The two players that were sent off can have no complaints, both making silly challenges knowing that they had already been booked, while there were not too many other contentious incidents for the officials to deal with.
What next?
APOEL: APOEL have a derby match against Omonia Nicosia at the weekend, and will play Ajax in their final Champions League group match next month.
Barcelona: Barcelona travel to Valencia in La Liga at the weekend, while their next outing in the Champions League will be against Paris Saint-Germain next month.
Sian Cowper
