A cold night in Tshwane, Pretoria, was turned into an evening of pure magic for thousands of South African football fans with an exhibition performance by Barcelona against local champions Mamelodi Sundowns.

Mamelodi are the domestic title holders of South Africa's Premier Soccer League and for three-quarters of the game they gave the Catalan giants a real run for their money. And it was only in the last 15 minutes that Barcelona moved up a couple of gears to run out easy winners.

Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, owner of Sundowns, paid Barcelona over £3.5m for 90 minutes of pure football fantasy. The winner on the night undoubtedly was South African football. But watching the likes of Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o in the flesh, dazzling the crowd with their happy feet, the excited fans made it clear who their favourites were.

'It was a spectacle on a huge scale, and hats off to Patrice Motsepe for bringing the La Liga giants to the tip of Africa, for the benefit of a soccer-hungry nation'


But it was not the former Champions of Europe who got the ball rolling on the night. The game started with a bang and with only 90 seconds on the clock Sundowns were on the scoreboard, shocking the Barca players and fans alike. It was clear immediately that there would be no repeat of the Spanish giants' 4-0 thrashing of Al Ahly in Egypt recently. A dangerous low cross into the box by the effervescent Vuyo Mere found the feet of Brent Carelse, whose deft lay-off found the deadly right foot of Surprise Moriri - and he put the ball past a helpless Victor Valdez.

Vuyo Mere, having shaken off an injury that could have kept him out of the game, played the game of his life. He was everywhere, back in defence to thwart any Barca attack, and regularly overlapping and keeping Liliam Thuram and Gio van Bronkhorst busy all night. It was a deserved testimony to his flair and skill that Ronaldinho decided to switch shirts with the flashy wing-back after the game.
 
Surprise Moriri also showed the trickery that at one stage had the experienced Thuram closing down nothing but clean air. Ronaldinho might have learned new shibobos (ball-through-the-legs trickery) to take back home.
Sundowns had most of the possession in the first-half and created enough chances to improve on their early lead. But they failed to capitalise and paid the price later on.

Barcelona only started to take control with 15 minutes left on the clock and, in all honesty, they only showed the true Barca in that last quarter of an hour. But it was enough. A Ronaldinho free-kick stretched goalkeeper Calvin Marlin in the 77th minute. He punched the ball out and after a bit of defensive ping-pong it fell to relative unknown Marin Ezquerro, who slotted into an open net.