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.
Advertisement
The fixture was billed as a tight and close affair with a possible upset on the cards.
The Argentina capain scored a hat-trick, as Barca thumped Celtic 7-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers was also in awe of Messi and the other parts of the ruthless “MSN” attacking trident of Messi, Suarez and Neymar.
“As a team we play and work to make sure the three of them are happy, that they get chances”.
Benfica led Besiktas from Franco Cervi’s 12th-minute goal but Talisca curled home a stoppage time equalizer against his own club who had loaned him off to Turkey in summer.
It took Lionel Messi just 3 minutes to open the scoring, when he lashed home from Neymar’s pass.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique said the Catalans played “at a very high level”.
Celtic did have the ball in the back of the Barcelona net in the 42nd minute when Sinclair finished into the bottom corner, but the former Swansea City forward was offside when Tierney released his initial strike.
“We did so many things well”.
“There can be no embarrassment because they do that to better teams than ourselves, [but] it’s obviously a disappointment”, Rodgers said.
“To have had hardly any preparation time really to come up against the world’s best at keeping the ball and tiring you out is always going to be hard really”.
“To have hardly any preparation time to come and play against the world’s best at keeping the ball and tiring you out, and beating you up with the football at times, it was a tough ask for them and that last 15-20 minutes did feel long”. “They move the ball around so quickly, they are at the top of the game”.
A brace from Luis Suarez and one each from halftime substitute Andres Iniesta and Neymar rounded out the scoring for Luis Enrique’s side.
The result and performance were exactly what Barca wanted after their shock 2-1 LaLiga loss to Alaves on Saturday.
“We were starters and enjoyed helping the team to get our first three points in the Champions League”.
Advertisement
The German worldwide has now saved three out of four penalties in the Champions League for Barca.
