Lionel Messi leaves Boateng on the floor and Twitter on fire

Spare a thought for Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng who was not only left sprawling on the turf of the Camp Nou by Lionel Messi last night, but has become the butt of a million jokes on social media in the wake of his slip.

The defender, who had already endured a difficult night trying to keep Messi and Barcelona under control, suffered the ultimate indignity whe the Argentine burst into the Bayern box after 80 minutes of the Champions League semi-final. As Boateng back-pedalled frantically, Messi feigned to cut inside him and then ducked out wide again. It was too much for the German defender who tripped over his own feet and could only watch as the Argentine glided past him before chipping goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

It was undoubtedly one of the moments of the season. Boateng was left looking like "baby in a playpen" said Sky Sports analyst Jamie Redknapp, who added that Messi's skill was "almost illegal." Having spent much of the night struggling to hold "a ridiculously high defensive line" Boateng, who won only 14 per cent of his tackles on the night according to the statisticians, was left in what Yahoo calls a "knotted heap" on the floor. "Before the rise of social media, Boateng might have escaped with a handful of scathing remarks from the watching press," adds Yahoo. "But in 2015? Not a chance. Twitter let rip with some devastating memes and tweets."

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The Bayern defender even had his Wikipedia page altered to include his "death" at the hands of Messi at the Camp Nou.

But he could hardly be blamed for being bewitched by the Argentine genius.

"Messi's run was so quick, so chilling that a search party almost needed scrambling to find Jerome Boateng so lost was the centre-back. Messi feinted to go left, sending Boateng one way, before checking right," writes Henry Winter in the Daily Telegraph. "Poor Boateng. He is a good defender but Messi had set him a question of physics that simply could not be answered. Let's twist again, said Messi. Boateng could not and fell over, inspecting the turf that Messi so graces."