With Lionel Messi, Luiz Suarez, and Neymar making their first start together of the season, Barcelona trounced Celtic 7-0 in its Champions League group opener on Tuesday, quickly putting to rest any talk of a letdown after losing to promoted Alaves 2-1last weekend.
Advertisement
Messi became the first player to score three goals in a game for the sixth time in Europe’s top competition, as he inspired the home side to a 7-0 win over the Scottish champions at Camp Nou.
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 Spanish giants at the Nou Camp.
“There can be no embarrassment because they do that to better teams than ourselves, [but] it’s obviously a disappointment”, Rodgers said. They are very special players.
Celtic will have to shrug off this worst ever European defeat as their next Group C outing is at home to City. It was a heavy, heavy defeat.
The match will now be played on Wednesday at 1845GMT.
The one-way traffic continued after the break as Dorus de Vries could only parry Neymar’s free-kick into the top corner for his first goal of the season.
Bayern’s Thiago Alcantara, left, challenges for the ball with Rostov’s Christian Noboa during the Champions League Group D soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and FK Rostov in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016.
Marco Verrati and Olivier Giroud, who was also sent off in Arsenal’s Champions League opener a year ago, were sent off following an altercation.
“We have experience in the Champions League, we were resilient, and we got a good point”, said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
“You can’t be too downhearted”. We saw the team and all the fans having fun.
With the win Napoli has shot to first place in Group B, after former Benfica player Talisca scored from a free kick in injury time to level Besiktas 1-1 in the final game of the day.
“Now we need to bounce back”.
Wenger had words of praise for Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, chosen over Petr Cech. They have shown great quality this evening.
Switzerland’s Basel was held to a 1-1 draw at home by Ludogorets in the other Group A clash, with the Bulgarian champion taking part for only the second time.
Advertisement
Goals from Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller on his 27th birthday, two from rising star Joshua Kimmich and another from Juan Bernat gave Carlo Ancelotti’s team a flawless start.
