They have beaten Barcelona once before, but never have they demolished them like this. Only Bayern Munich in their semi-final victory of 2013, in which they racked up seven goals over two legs against Barcelona, could lay claim to a win of this magnitude in the Lionel Messi era, and Barcelona came back to win the competition for a fifth time two years later.

At the very least, the second leg at the Nou Camp will undoubtedly be a game to remember, although what will be more prescient is how the future looks for Barcelona after the Valentine’s Day evisceration of 2017.

The first of two goals from Angel Di Maria on 18 minutes were the culmination of a blitz in the early stages that Enrique’s team could not withstand, and each time Barcelona tried to come back, PSG just found another gear.

There was another from Julian Draxler, a thorn in Barcelona’s right side all night, and also Edinson Cavani, currently European football’s most prolific goalscorer.

Even with all the trophies he has won, Enrique will know that Barcelona managers who suffer defeats such as these in the modern era do not last long. “It’s difficult to explain,” he said. “They [PSG] were superior to us from the start, overcame us in terms of applying pressure, created danger – it was a night in which we were clearly inferior.”

Could his side defy the conventions of the Champions League and come back to win? “It’s extremely difficult for us now,” he said. “But we go back to our stadium and really we need a heroic performance, but why not dream?”

For the past nine seasons, Barcelona have never failed to make the last-16 of this competition and while their famous front three surely cannot be as poor again, turning around a four-goal deficit will be an unforgiving task.

It is measure of how much we expect of Messi, as well as Neymar and Luis Suarez, that a result like this has such magnitude but it was notable just how ineffectual the world’s greatest footballer was in a team on a run of 11 games unbeaten previous to this.

Barcelona were late out to warm up at the start of the evening and by the time they got their bearings in the game, PSG were in charge.

This was a great night for PSG’s Spanish manager Unai Emery who, at the 24th time of asking in his coaching career, found a way to beat the Barcelona machine at last.

DI Maria came off to a standing ovation and he will take much of the glory but there were fine performances throughout the side. The right-back Thomas Meunier had a superb night and in midfield it was another Frenchman, Adrien Rabiot, who stood out for 90 minutes among stellar company on both sides.

It takes a brave team to attempt the full press on Barcelona, chiefly because this is the club who wrote the book on the art of escaping pressure. Yet PSG committed to it with their midfielders taking turns to launch themselves at the Barcelona passing generals of Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets. It came with a risk factor, Rabiot was booked for a foul on Neymar after four minutes.

Early on, Marc ter Stegen was obliged to make a couple of fine one-handed saves from Blaise Matuidi and then Draxler. Emery had organised his team to attack the right side of Barcelona, with Andre Gomes and full-back Sergi Roberto both struggling. Draxler and the French left-back Layvin Kurzawa dominated that wing.

Ter Stegen could do nothing about Di Maria’s free-kick for the first goal, chiefly because Suarez seemed to duck out the way of the right-foot strike.

For a while PSG retreated, kept their shape compact and allowed Barcelona over the halfway line. On 27 minutes Neymar picked out Andre Gomes in the right channel but Kevin Trapp duly saved at his near post, and that turned out to be the only shot on target Barcelona managed all night.

The second goal was a beautifully-worked move, starting with Messi being robbed of the ball in midfield and Marco Verratti switching the ball right to Draxler who disguised his right-footed shot to catch ter Stegen off balance.

Di Maria’s second goal was another worked quickly from back to front, with the Argentine striking a fine left-footed shot out of the reach of the Barcelona goalkeeper.

The fourth went from Meunier into Cavani, who ran down the right channel and finished at Ter Stegen’s near post.

After that Enrique quietly withdrew Iniesta, and one of the greatest players of the era came to the bench knowing full well that his side had been demolished.