A cold wet Wednesday night in Stoke has long been the benchmark when it came to the question of whether Lionel Messi could replicate his Barcelona form in England.
The Argentine was even asked about it a few years ago. He himself said: 'I played in awful conditions in Rosario when I was 11 years old, with glass on the pitch, with holes and everything.'
So the 31-year-old thinks he would be able to do it against the likes of Stoke City, now a Championship club, and the statistics say so too.
In 33 Champions League games against English clubs, Messi has 26 goals. Against German sides, he has scored 16 times. Against Italian, 12. Against the Dutch, 10. The French, nine.
He has consistently gotten the better of the greatest defences on the biggest stage. We can only imagine what he would then do against the likes of Fulham or Huddersfield, given the chance.
Arsenal have been his favourite opponents, with him having scored nine goals in six games. He also has six and four against Manchester City and Manchester United, too.
Liverpool became Messi's latest victims on Wednesday. Virgil van Dijk, fresh from being crowned the Premier League's Player of the Year, was among those schooled by the Barcelona maestro.
He was alongside Joel Matip while Joe Gomez, starting for the first time since an away win against Burnley in December 2018, was given a rough 'welcome back'.
Messi scored twice to take himself to 600 career goals, with his second strike showing how he has improved his game with age. His latest trick has been to become a dead-ball specialist.
Messi's haul of eight goals from direct free-kicks this season is double that of his closest competitor in Europe's elite divisions – Angel Di Maria of Paris Saint-Germain.
By comparison, his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo has not scored any, despite 24 attempts.
It has seen him add another string to his bow, as if one was ever needed.
It helped him keep up a remarkable record against English sides in Europe.
Since 2011, only Sergio Aguero, Jamie Vardy and Eden Hazard have scored more against the Big Six clubs than he has. So he has seemingly passed the Premier League test with ease.
One opposing view is that Barcelona and Spain seems to suit his style and philosophy. After all, for Barca, he has 417 goals in 450 games in La Liga. For Argentina, he has 65 in 129.
Still a remarkable return, but not to the same extent. So could he do it while featuring for a City side under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, for example?
Considering how City have seemingly made a mockery of the top flight's competitiveness, Messi would only add to that.
Once again, they are runaway record leaders. They are in line to finish as champions and match last season's unprecedented total of 32 wins out of 38 outings.
Liverpool are taking them to the wire but Messi, surely, would relish starring in a team that is quite clearly a cut above the rest and then some.
Brighton and Co would represent fish in a barrel to the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
Sadly, we are unlikely to ever see Messi grace the English game. Now 31, he is likelier to retire with Barcelona, or someday stick to his promise of featuring for Newell's Old Boys once more.
So we may never get to the bottom of the question of whether he could do it on a cold, damp night in Stoke, Burnley or any other pocket of England.
Against the Premier League's biggest clubs in games with so much at stake, however, he has gone a long way to giving us an answer.