Barca captain Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick and Luis Suarez a double with further goals from Neymar and substitute Andres Iniesta while Moussa Dembele had a penalty saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen when it was 1-0 to the home side.
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The fixture was billed as a tight and close affair with a possible upset on the cards.
Barcelona and Bayern Munich got off to a terrific start in the Champions League, as they thrashed Celtic 7-0 and FC Rostov 5-0 respectively in the opening day of the competition.
Lionel Messi scored a marvellous hattrick while also providing an assist in the match as the trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar ran riot over a ragged Celtic defence who had no answer for the Blaugranes’ blissful playing style.
“They are special players. They couldn’t have come to a more hard place in world football after the highly intense game [against Rangers] at the weekend and to have hardly any preparation time against the world’s best at keeping the ball; they beat you up with the football at times”.
Instead, Barcelona improved on the 6-1 win over Celtic from their last meeting in 2013.
“There can be no embarrassment because they do that to better teams than ourselves”, said Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers.
Suarez and Messi started Saturday’s shock defeat to Alaves on the bench, while Neymar missed the start of the season due to his participation in the Olympics, where he fired Brazil to a first ever Gold medal in soccer. Neymar and Saurez played together for Barcelona.
Arsenal’s night got better with news that Group A’s other game between Basel and Ludogorets also ended 1-1.
The second goal was a brilliant piece of shared playmaking that undid Celtic completely, as the ball flowed from Messi to Neymar and back again for him to nudge over the line in the 27th.
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“Professionally it is never nice when that happens”, said Rodgers. For Barcelona it refers to the most devastating attack in world football. But the gulf in class between Spanish and Scottish football was being made clear, although it wasn’t until the 50th minute when Neymar scored a spectacular free kick. De Vries got a hand on the ball but not enough to keep it out. Within 76 seconds the fifth had arrived, Suarez putting it into the box for Messi to slide in for his hat-trick goal.
