Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen dives to save a penalty kick from Celtic’s Moussa Dembele during a Champions League, Group C soccer match between Barcelona and Celtic, at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, .
Advertisement
Lionel Messi netted a hat-trick, with team-mate Luis Suarez bagging a brace, while a goal apiece from Neymar and Andres Iniesta completed the scoring for the Catalan giants at the Nou Camp.
Paris: Barcelona’s lethal MSN – Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar – dissected Celtic 7-0 while a deluge washed out Pep Guardiola’s eagerly awaited first Champions League game in charge of Manchester City on Tuesday.
“We have the fortune of having some fantastic players and they get better with every training session and every match”.
“Their front three are exceptional – their movement, their vision, their calmness on the ball – but we need to defend better from the front, midfield and the back”.
By scoring three goals, the 29-year-old became the first player to score six hat-tricks in the competition, moving above rival Cristiano Ronaldo (5).
Neymar, Luis Suarez’s brace and Andres Iniesta’s thumping volley completed the rout as Barca sealed their biggest-ever win in Europe and inflicted the largest Champions League defeat on a former victor of the competition. We are all good friends, and I think that shows in the way we play.
“There can be no embarrassment because they do that to better teams than ourselves, (but) it’s obviously a disappointment”, Rodgers said.
“We’re going to try and learn a lot in this Champions League campaign”, he said.
Messi’s hat-trick was the 36th of his Barca career and a record sixth in the Champions League.
Iniesta came on as a second half substitute and scored a wonderful volley for Barca’s fourth and displayed his trademark range of passing.
After making made eight changes to the team which lost 2-1 to Alaves at the weekend, Enrique was happy with the response he got from his side as they inflicted Celtic’s record Europe defeat. “We tried to enjoy helping the team to get the three points in the Champions League”.
“It’s a big shame for all our travelling fans to come and see a performance like that”. “You can put as many players as you want there – we had a line of five – but the movement, the speed and the touch can still make it very hard for you”.
Advertisement
Messi and Neymar were reunited with Luis Suarez from the start for the first time this season and took no time in getting reacquainted as all three were on the scoresheet.
