Boss Brendan Rodgers insisted that there could be “no embarrassment” after Celtic were thrashed 7-0 by Barcelona in Champions League Group C opener at the Nou Camp, the club’s heaviest European defeat.
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“It didn’t matter who we had in front us, I remember a beauty and precision that was of another class”.
Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers was also in awe of Messi and the other parts of the ruthless “MSN” attacking trident of Messi, Suarez and Neymar.
‘This is a competition which is going to be a brilliant learning season for us.
“He plays everywhere because he has freedom”, Luis Enrique said afterwards. It wouldn’t be clever to curtail that, to put limits on him. “Not just because of his numbers, but for his vision of the game”.
Suarez scored 31 goals as Rodgers’ almost ended Liverpool’s two-decade drought without a Premier League title in 2014, but admitted it was tough to be on the receiving end of his brilliance. “To lose by so many goals is tough to take”.
“There can be no embarrassment because they have done it to better teams than ourselves”.
Messi registered a brilliant hattrick and Neymar claimed four assists to take their team to victory line with the big margin.
The result and performance were exactly what Barca wanted after its shock 2-1 La Liga loss to Alaves on Saturday.
Iniesta had been introduced at half-time and for all Messi s magic, the midfield schemer struck the goal of the night with a ferocious volley from Neymar s cross. “The speed of the pitch is fantastic, the ball moves like it is on an ice-rink, it goes so fast – and they go as fast as that”, he said.
A weekend hat-trick hero against Rangers Rodgers identified Moussa Dembele’s saved 24th minute penalty at 1-0 as a critical moment for the Scottish champions.
Goal No. 3 came in the 50th when Neymar curled a free kick over the wall.
Suarez did eventually get his goal, though, as he controlled another Neymar chipped pass before swivelling and smashing the ball into the roof of the net past a helpless de Vries.
Neymar laid on the sixth for Suarez and the Uruguayan completed the rout with his second strike in stoppage time, capping Barca’s biggest win in the competition.
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And Messi s low cross was prodded home from close range by Suarez to cap a humbling evening for Rodgers s men on their return to the Champions League after a three-year absence.
