Pep Guardiola felt Manchester City were in with a chance against Barcelona until Claudio Bravo was sent off.

The City goalkeeper was sent off in the 53rd minute of his side's eventual 4-0 defeat to the Catalan giants at the Nou Camp in the Champions League.

Bravo experienced what can only be described as a brain fade when he played a poor pass that was intercepted by Luis Suarez before handling the ball when he had come right out of his area.

At the time, it was 1-0 to Barca, but his sending off gave Luis Enrique's side the impetus to fire a further three goals past Guardiola's men.

"It is hard to play Barca, but until we went down to ten players, it was open and we were competing against a team with a big personality," said former Barca boss Guardiola.

"The first goal was due to an unfortunate slip and then for 10 minutes we were a little bit confused, but we were there; we were in the game.

"We were pressing, we had the possession and we made the chances but we didn't take them and you have to do that to win the game - especially against this team.

"But after the red card, it was over. Every game since Celtic has been the same – we have had own goals, missed penalties and we need to change the way things have been going.

"We created enough chances and arrived at the by-line many times - enough chances to score one or two goals. We know Barca and if you give their strikers an opportunity, they punish you."

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick and Neymar provided the finishing touches as Barcelona affirmed their favouritism in this season's European competition.