Barcelona 3-1 Borussia Dortmund: 5 Things we learned from the game | Champions League 2019-20

#1 On appearance 700 - who else but Messi?

It was another memorable evening for Messi and Barca fans to marvel at their main man

On his 700th Barcelona appearance, Lionel Messi netted his 613th goal and now has 250 assists too as the magical Argentine continues expressing individual brilliance when his team needs him most. With ten goals and eight assists in 13 appearances this term, he's been struggling with injuries to start 2019-20 but remains Barca's best player and more importantly, has embraced his responsibility as a primary playmaker in the final third too.

He applied perfectly-weighted probing passes for Suarez and Griezmann to finish in transition, while unfortunate not to have had a hat-trick of assists - Suarez's earlier goal correctly ruled out as the Uruguayan strayed offside during an eventful first-half. Messi continues to break UCL records too, scoring against his 34th team in the continental competition while surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul who netted against 33 apiece.

If his first assist was slightly fortunate given Manuel Akanji's sliding interception deflecting into his path, Lionel showed great spatial awareness to tee up an unmarked Griezmann for a first-time strike with their third and final finish of the evening.

Presumably taking inspiration after seeing Paulo Dybala's ridiculous finish on Tuesday, Messi was inches away from completing his brace but was denied by the woodwork with a long-range freekick in an similarly silly position to his compatriot.

He danced his way beyond opposition challenges with effortless ease at times, a stark contrast to that performance at the Signal Iduna Park on matchday three where he came off the bench and looked short of match sharpness. Match stats? 11 successful dribbles, five of five completed long balls, four key passes, two assists, one goal and hit the woodwork too.

Being booked for simulation early in the second-half was the only blemish on an otherwise memorable showing, after Roman Bürki fell to ground and he lost his footing too - referee Clement Turpin brandished the yellow card and despite protesting innoncence, the decision had already been made.

Stats' source: SofaScore and BT Sport