A Lionel Messi brace helped Barcelona tame Celtic 2-0 in Champions League Group B action on Wednesday night at Celtic Park in Glasgow. The
Argentine scored a goal in each half, the latter from the penalty spot,
to hand the three points to the Catalonians. For Messi they were his
eighth and ninth goals of the group stage and he is just two goals shy
of Cristiano Ronaldo's all-time mark of 11 Champions League group stage
goals. More importantly for Barcelona, the win clinched not only a spot
in the last 16 for Luis Enrique's club, but also first place in the
group and a higher seed for the knockout rounds. Playing in Celtic
Park has almost become an annual ritual for Barcelona, as it marked the
third visit in five seasons that Barcelona has ventured to the Scottish
city to face the Hoops in the group stage. Unlike their shocking 2-1
defeat in November 2012, Barcelona controlled matters for the most part
thanks to their devastating messi-Neymar partnerships. Unsung heroes for
the visitors were Ivan Rakitic and Andre Gomes, whose workmanlike
efforts also helped give Barcelona an edge in midfield. Celtic
were not without their chances though, and their manager Brandon Rodgers
will be left ruing the missed chances his team failed to take, namely
at the end of the first half and the start of the second half when the
Scottish champions played their best football of the evening. Luis
Enrique was boosted by a return of the MSN to the starting line-up
after both Messi and Luis Suarez had missed Saturday's 0-0 draw with
Malaga. Also of note in the Barcelona XI was the inclusion of Andre
Gomes, who was tabbed to join regulars Rakitic and Sergio Busquets in
the middle of the park.
For Celtic, this was their European final
and they came out hungry as wolves to start the match. Every 50-50
challenge won by the home side earn roaring approval from the crowd,
while a corner kick was almost celebrated like a goal. In short, Celtic
Park was relishing another magical European night as only it can.
Little
by little though, Celtic's early energy wore off and Barcelona's spells
of possession became longer. The Catalonians worked the left side,
running the attack through Neymar and Jordi Alba to then set up Messi
and the Argentine had a slew of good looks at goal inside the first 20
minutes. Barcelona
continued to probe Celtic's right flank and finally Messi's class
proved to be too much as La Pulga opened the scoring with a quality
finish. Barcelona circulated the ball from right to left, with Alba
feeding Neymar, who brilliantly scooped a pass in for Messi to one-time
in past Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon. Celtic hung tough though
and 10 minutes before half-time they put Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre
ter Stegen to work for the first time with a diving stop on a Moussa
Dembele shot. That was then followed by a superb save from Gordon on a
Suarez header from point-blank range.
Celtic's positive football
carried into the second half and perhaps with a better finish Callum
McGregor could have beaten Ter Stegen with a right-footer in the first
chance of the half. The hosts made things difficult for Barcelona,
especially in trying to get out of their own half. Dembele was
essentially camped out right next to Ter Stegen, eliminating any balls
passing through the feet of the German stopper, thus pushing Barcelona
out wide to the flanks where Celtic would then press in numbers. Dembele
could not have asked for a better opportunity to draw his side level
when James Forrest's perfectly curled cross reached him, but the Belgian
instead headed right at Ter Stegen. All that good work from Celtic was
undone moments later though by full-back Emilio Izaguirre who needlessly
wrestled Suarez to the ground in the area, gift-wrapping a penalty to
Barcelona which Messi easily converted for the 2-0 lead. With the
Celtic defence starting to tire and their resistance beginning to wane,
Messi looked to ice the match late on. After rolling a right-footer just
wide, Messi set up Suarez with an open shot inside the area, but the
Uruguayan rushed the effort and fired off the post. From there the
final 10 minutes were a mere formality as Barcelona saw out the match
with no problem to get back to their winning ways in Europe. Up next for
Luis Enrique's team will be a trip on Sunday to bogey ground Anoeta to
face Real Sociedad.
Match Sheet:
0.-
Celtic: Gordon; Lustig, Simunovic, Sviatchenko, Izaguirre; Brown,
Armstrong McGregor (Roberts, min. 72), Rogic (Bitton, min. 63), Sinclair
(Forrest, min. 46); y Dembélé
2.- FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Sergi
Roberto, Piqué (Marlon, min. 72), Mascherano, Jordi Alba (Digne, Min.
66); Busquets, Rakitic, André Gomes; Messi, Suárez y Neymar (Turan, min.
77).
Goals: 0-1, min. 24: Messi; 0-2, min. 56: Messi
Referee:
Daniele Orsato (Italy). Yellow Cards: Sviatchenko (min. 23) for Celtic,
Jordi Alba (min. 41) for Barcelona, Sergi Roberto (min. 63) for
Barcelona, Neymar (min. 70)
for Barcelona, Lustig (min. 70) for Celtic, Armstrong (min. 88) for Celtic, Rakitic (min. 89) for Barcelona.
Red cards: None
Stadium: Celtic Park in Glasgow
Attendance: 57,500
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