Eto'o worked space and fed an unmarked Messi, who calmly stroked a left-footed shot into the corner past Butt from just inside the box to open the scoring. Lell had left Messi free, giving him acres of space for the finish.

Messi swung in a cross from the right that Oddo failed to clear properly, but the loose ball fortunately dropped to goalkeeper Butt, averting further danger.

Messi produced a wonderful reverse pass to send Eto'o through on goal, and the striker fired low under Butt to double Barcelona's lead despite brief offside doubts.

After turning Lell in the box and going to ground under contact, Messi was booked for simulation when a penalty seemed likely, drawing controversy.

In the aftermath of Messi’s booking for simulation, tempers flared and Guardiola was sent off for his protests over the non-penalty and yellow card.

Alves surged forward and released Messi wide, and Messi tried to return the pass into the box, but Alves could not keep his shot on target.

Messi battled determinedly in the area to find Eto'o, whose shot was deflected over the bar, leading to a short corner that came to nothing.

Henry burst past Oddo to the byline and cut the ball back across goal, leaving Butt stranded and gifting Messi a simple tap-in for his second of the night.

Messi combined with Eto'o in the build-up, and the loose ball ran to Henry, who calmly slid his finish past Butt to make it 4–0 before the break.

In a late first-half move, Van Bommel caught Messi in the face with an elbow, but play continued and no card was shown, adding to Bayern’s frustrations.

Early in the second half, Lell brought Messi down on the right flank and this time the defender received a yellow card for the foul.

Xavi tried a worked move to pick out Messi, but Bayern’s defence managed to cut out the pass before it reached him.

Messi cut inside and unleashed a powerful drive that Butt spectacularly tipped onto the bar and over, denying him a brilliant goal.

From a free-kick just outside the box on the right, Messi’s effort was deflected off the wall and went behind for a corner.

In a late goalmouth scramble, Messi almost completed his hat-trick and added a fifth for Barcelona, but Bayern just managed to survive the chaos.