Agencies
Paris, Sept 14: Barcelona’s lethal MSN – Lionel Messi , Luis Suarez and Neymar – dissected Celtic 7-0 while a deluge washed out Pep Guardiola’s eagerly awaited first Champions League game in charge of Manchester City.
There was no rain Tuesday 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. The Scottish side, however, fluffed a penalty when they were 0-1 down
“There can be no embarrassment because they do that to better teams than ourselves,” said Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers. “They are special players. It is a front three that can occupy as many players as you want.”
Suarez, reunited with Messi and Neymar for the first time this season, told ‘TV3’: “It has been many games since we have been able to enjoy being on the pitch together and today (Tuesday) we did.”
Barca however, could face fresh sanctions from UEFA after thousands of separatist Catalan flags were again flown at the Camp Nou. The Spanish champions were fined 150,000 euros by UEFA because of the flags during last season’s competition.
Meanwhile the first goal of the 2016/2017 Champions League group stages came after a mere 42 seconds from the head of Paris Saint Germain (PSG) striker Edinson Cavani at the Parc des Princes against Arsenal.
The strike was PSG’s quickest in the Champions League, but the French champions, and Cavani in particular, were guilty of failing to convert a succession of golden opportunities. It enabled the Gunners get out of jail with Alexis Sanchez’s leveller inside the final quarter of an hour.
Both sides also ended a man down after Olivier Giroud and Marco Verratti were sent off at the death.
“We have experience in the Champions League, we were resilient, and we got a good point,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal’s night got better with news that Group A’s other game between Basel and Ludogorets also ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
Guardiola’s old side Bayern Munich, under new boss Carlo Ancelotti, ran riot over Russian side Rostov 5-0.
Joshua Kimmich grabbed a second half double, with Robert Lewandowski scoring from the penalty spot, birthday boy Thomas Mueller and Spanish defender Juan Bernat giving Bayern early custody of Group D.
But only on goal difference as Atletico Madrid won 1-0 at PSV Eindhoven, Saul Niguez doing the damage with a sizzling scissor-style volley just before the break.
Carlo Ancelotti, the new manager at Bayern Munich described his debut in Europe with the Bavarian giants as ‘a great game’.
“Can we win the Champions League? For sure our team will be competitive this season and for the moment everything is good, but the first objective is to win the group, and then we will see the draw,” stated the Italian.
