It marked the fastest goal Messi has ever scored among his 86 Champions League tallies.
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Neymar set up Messi to score twice in the first half hour at Camp Nou before the Brazil striker struck from a free kick just after halftime.
The Bhoys go into the Champions League Group C opener on the back of the 5-1 victory against Rangers in the Old Firm derby at the weekend but are underdogs for the clash with Luis Enrique’s La Liga title-winners.
Messi opened the scoring with a wonderful drive into the top-right corner from inside the box, then added a second following some attractive link-up play with Neymar, before sealing a hat-trick from close range. “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”.
Lionel Messi notched his 36th career hat trick in Barcelona’s 7-0 dismantlement of Celtic.
“These players have been brilliant”, Rodgers told a press conference.
Celtic would launch their first promising attack since the one that earned them a penalty kick in the 42nd minute and the Scots appeared to halve Barcelona’s lead with Scott Sinclair finding the back of the net, but the goal was correctly disallowed for offside.
Messi had started Saturday’s shock 2-1 defeat to Alaves on the bench due to the after-effects of a minor groin injury, but took just three minutes to make his presence felt with a rising drive into the top corner from Neymar’s lovely through ball.
Stepping up in a flash of bright blonde hair with a brashness of confidence and expectancy, Neymar took two big steps towards the ball and swept the ball home past the outstretched hand of the Celtic keeper.
They even had the chance to draw level from a penalty, only for Marc-Andre ter Stegen to deny Moussa Dembele.
Second-half substitute Andres Iniesta registered his name on the score-sheet in the 58th with a wonderful volley from the edge of the box, after getting on the end of Neymar’s cross. The best player in the world grabbed a hat-trick but that was only a part of the masterclass on display at the Nou Camp. Iniesta came on at the break and he scored the fourth, thumping Neymar’s cross on the volley past De Vries.
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Celtic were demoralised. Messi hit the post before setting up Suarez for the seventh which ended a night of torment for the Glasgow club. A perfectly-weighted Neymar pass found Messi and with one swift turn and a ferocious strike blasted Barcelona on the way to an emphatic win that would be Celtic’s heaviest defeat in European competition.
