Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Andrés Iniesta and Neymar all scored against Celtic in Group C, with Marc-André ter Stegen’s penalty save putting the seal on Barcelona‘s record 7-0 victory.
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There was no rain but there was a flood of goals at the Camp Nou, where a sparkling Messi hat-trick with four assists and a goal from Neymar, Andres Iniesta and a Suarez brace humiliated Celtic.
“We need to try to find something to take into the next game”.
“They have done that to much better teams than us”, he said.
“But we need to defend better from the front middle and back, be more compact and fearless on the ball and even here we usually do better than that”.
A flood of goals from Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez capped a ideal night for Barcelona’s Champions League group opener this seasons against a hapless Celtic.
Messi’s hat-trick was the 36th of his Barca career and a record sixth in the Champions League.
Messi poked home for 2-0 three minutes later after a fine one-two with Neymar, who then got the third with a curling free-kick in the 50th.
“I think in the first half we had a critical moment in the game”.
“We did so many things well”.
It was a “harrowing night” for Chelsea’s players and a “sobering” one for Rodgers, whose efforts to keep Barca at bay with five at the back failed badly, says Michael Grant of The Times.
“We started well. The next game at Atletico will be tough”, said Ancelotti, who has made the best start as a Bayern coach for 18 years.
The French forward is eager to move on following his penalty miss midway through the first-half: “When I went to kick the football, I tried to put it inside the netting but, today, the keeper saved it and, in football, sometimes you score and sometimes you miss”, he said.
A barrage of goals from the vaunted MSN trio wrought havoc on Celtic’s European hopes at Camp Nou.
Lionel Messi may have found the opener within two minutes, following a defence splitting pass from Neymar, but even in the opening 120 seconds of the match something was different to the embarrassing defeat to Alaves.
“You can have all the tactical ideas, you can set up systems, you can park two double-decker buses in front of the goal, I think that some of the best players in the world will always find space. We just tire teams out”.
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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.
