Although he is three months older than Messi, Ben Arfa has only scored 25 career goals ... Messi has scored 233.
And last night we were all given a look on 'council telly' just how one player can destroy a team as big as AC Milan ... almost by himself.
Ben Arfa has been at Newcastle some time now, and granted he has had his injuries, but I have never seen him influence a game the way Messi did last night. Not even come close.
And the Frenchman should note - Messi does it time and time again.
Forget Pele, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff and Zinedine Zidane ... "The King is dead - long live the King!" ... Messi is the greatest player who has ever graced this planet!
The word of the night was remontada.
It means comeback. And this was the madre of all remontadas.
If there was any doubt about the team to beat in this season’s Champions League, Barcelona reconfirmed the identity of Europe’s most potent force.
We watched a genius at work last night. You do know that, don’t you?
In Lionel Messi, Barcelona have a player as great as any to have walked the earth.
It no longer matters that he has the good fortune to play in a magnificent team.
What he does on nights like this transcends such petty arguments, and make football fans idiots for even doubting him.
These were his 52nd and 53rd goals of the season. It is simply untrue to suggest that any player of talent would score them, surrounded by these exceptional team-mates.
Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri claimed he had no regrets after watching AC Milan's Champions League dream ended by "the best team in the world".
The Rossoneri had admitted they would need Lionel Messi to have an off night but it was not to be, as the Argentinian forward single-handedly cancelled out Milan's two-goal advantage inside 39 minutes at the Nou Camp.
And with M'Baye Niang missing a gilt-edged chance to score an invaluable away goal for the Italians in between Messi's strikes, Milan had no subsequent answer to goals three and four from David Villa and Jordi Alba after the break, with Barca wrapping up a 4-2 aggregate win to reach the quarter-finals.
Allegri told acmilan.com: "We did well in the first leg but Barcelona's potential hasn't changed. They're the best team in the world with that trio of Messi, (Andres) Iniesta and Xavi."