The first half of Barcelona vs Manchester City was nowhere near as eventful as the second half, as following 45 minutes where we saw a Messi goal and handful of chances for the both sides, we were treated to two more Messi goals and two red cards in the second. A game of two halves you might say.

That's why Eamon Dunphy picked a poor time to declare Barcelona a team in decline, as he did just before the second half kicked off, despite stating before kick-off that the little genius would score a hat-trick.

Messi too came in for criticism, as a clearly unimpressed Dunphy tore into both teams. City because they aren't very good under Pep yet, and Barca because they used to be really good but aren't anymore.

He then joked at the final whistle that his reaction was too hasty.


Good man, at least he owned up to it.

We get the odd bit of stick anytime we post a Dunphy moment because many football fans are tired of him lambasting teams, but when he says Messi is beginning to show signs of decline before he goes on to score at hat-trick, it has to be seen.

Never afraid to have a pop at someone, this may go up there with calling Cristiano Ronaldo a 'nothing player' or referring to Sergio Ramos as 'Paul McShane on steroids'.

It's as if Luis Enrique got words of Dunphy's comments and passed them on to Messi, and to be honest we don't want to fully rule that out at this time.