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In a sense, it was the perfect La Liga story, depending on what angle of the planet you were watching from. Prior to winning promotion in 2017/18, Sociedad Deportiva Huesca had never been in the first division, and FC Barcelona, in its glorious 119-years of existence, had never been relegated to the Segunda, and oh, both teams were unbeaten before kick-off.
Since the inception of the Ernesto Valverde era, Barcelona have yet to reclaim their status as the best football club on the continent, Real Madrid have been balling in Europe, but it will be unfair to suggest the Blaugrana have not exceeded expectations under Luis Enrique's replacement.
The 54-year-old guided Barca to its third league title in four years, helping the Catalans reestablish domestic dominance over Real and Atletico Madrid, but Barcelona's start to the season was far from convincing.
A 5-1 humiliation to Real Madrid in the Super Copa de Espana culminated in the "shocking" acquisition of Paulinho Bezerra from Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande -which turned out to be an absolute bargain- Barcelona became a laughing stock, but when they lifted the La Liga in May, the joke was no longer on them.
Yet, there was a missing element of Barcelona's brand of football and even the most conservative Barcelonistas will agree that the 8-2 desolation of newly promoted Huesca on Sunday belongs in the category of "long overdue results"
Ask, and it shall be given.
Not even the most logical football minds would have expected the El Alcoraz outfit to draw or give Barca headaches of any sort; At half-time, the scoreboard read 3-2, The visitors had taken a surprise lead through Juan Hernandez, and although normalcy was restored before the break, the travelling fans kept believing.
In the build-up to the game, like every manager who understands the reality of travelling to the Nou Camp and actually having Messi come at you, SD Huesca boss Leo Franco gave his two-cents on one of the all-time greats
“There is no special plan to stop Messi.”
“We will have to be very attentive and the individual who is close to him will have to be at their very best. If you accumulate players around him, he can go past one, two, three… he’s the best player in the history of football.”
He saw it coming, at full time, his words, and Messi's corresponding masterclass echoed through the corridors of the World's game.
FIFA may have excluded the "Wizard of Rosario" from its shortlisted nominees for the 2018 edition of the "best awards", but what they probably found impossible to do, was keep Lionel Messi from unleashing terror on Leo Franco's brave Huesca side.
Here's how the world reacted on Social Media.
After the international break, Barcelona will embark on a disturbing trip to Real Sociedad's Anoeta, a ground upon which they've suffered serious bad luck in recent years. Perhaps, the 8-2 thrashing of Huesca will be a source of inspiration for the league leaders
All things being said, the next time FC Barcelona line-up against SD Huesca will be in April 2019, hopefully, by then, Leo Franco's men would have recovered psychologically from the outcome of their Camp Nou adventure.
