Lionel Messi scored his sixth Champions League hat-trick as rampant Barcelona inflicted on Celtic their heaviest ever European defeat.
The Argentina forward cracked in an early first goal in the Group C match.
Celtic's Moussa Dembele had a penalty saved before Messi poked in his second.
In the second half, Neymar's free-kick sailed into the net, Andres Iniesta volleyed a fourth, Messi slid home the fifth and Luis Suarez scored with a volley and then a side-footed finish.
In their two full seasons together at the Nou Camp, Messi, Neymar and Suarez have scored a combined 253 goals and assisted 120 more.
Those numbers are rising quickly in the early weeks of this season - 266 goals and 128 assists - and in this latest masterclass, Messi got a hat-trick and Neymar a goal and four assists.
They are - more often than not - unplayable. All of the weaknesses in Celtic's make-up - and there were so many - were ruthlessly exposed.
Messi scored after just three minutes when Neymar slid the ball through a spooked defence.
Celtic won a penalty against the run of play when Dembele was brought down by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but the striker had his effort saved by the Barcelona goalkeeper.
After that, the floodgates opened.
No comments:
Post a Comment