Barcelona - Celtic: result, match report and goal
Barcelona demolished a disappointingly poor Celtic side with the Messi-Suarez-Neymar trident in unstoppable form at Camp Nou this evening.
Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar combined to devastating effect as Barcelona swatted Celtic aside 7-0 at Camp Nou to lay down a marker in Champions League Group C tonight.
Messi produced a stunning display, hitting a record sixth hat-trick in the competition. He smashed home a pass from Neymar in the third minute and the Argentine maestro struck again in the 27th after Celtic's Moussa Dembele had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Neymar curled in a free kick to stretch Barca's lead in the 50th minute before crossing for Andres Iniesta to volley the fourth.
Messi then grabbed his third goal, overtaking Real Madrid greats Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas to reach six European Cup trebles.
Neymar laid on the sixth for Suarez and the Uruguayan completed the rout with his second strike in stoppage time.
As it happened:
Full time: FC Barcelona 7-0 Celtic
That's it. Mr. Hategan calls time on the agony for the Celts
2 minutes of additional time will be added
Min 90 | Into the last minute of a night any fan of the hoops will want to forget.
Barcelona 7-0 Celtic
Iniesta to Messi, first time to Suarez, so easy (too easy) for Barça
Min 88 | Suarez makes it 7 (seven) !!!
Min 88 | Messi off the post as De Vries parrys the ball onto the post and wide.
Min 86 | Apart from the penalty save, Ter Stegen has been a virtual spectator at Camp Nou this evening.
Min 85 | The pace has slipped considerably in the last five minutes as Celtic still fail to pass more than three passes in any passage of play.
Min 79 | Celtic were warned ahead of tonight's game that Barça would be anxious to bounce back after the weekend's reverse to Alaves in LaLiga.
Four assists and a goal from Neymar tonight who has been quite sensational
Barcelona 6-0 Celtic
Celtic sub: Rodgers shuffles his pack as Bitton comes on for McGregor
Suarez gets in on the act with a sublime chest and volley from a Neymar assist.
Min 75 | Gooooooooooooooooooooool. Suarez makes it 6 !!!!!!!!!!!
Pass rate: Barcelona 561 vs. Celtic 173
Min 71 | A rare shot on goal from Celtic as Tierny tries his luck from an acute angle
Min 70 | Celtic still playing with a back-line of five despite the changes which seems to be inviting even more pressure from the men in azul-grana.
Min 67 | Change for Celtic as O'Connell comes on for Sviatchenko. Roberts also makes way for Armstrong
Min 65 | A rare shot on goal as Lustig sees Ter Stegen off his line and attempts a long range spectacular.
Possession: Barça 70% - Celtic 30%
Min 63 | Celtic's inability to retain the ball really has been staggering tonight.
Barcelona 5-0 Celtic
Suarez pulls the ball back and the Argentine pokes home for his hat-trick.
Barça change Busquets for Rafinha.
Min 60 | Messssi makes it 5
Neymar cross, Iniesta volley and booooom..... excellent goal from the No. 8
Min 59 | Iniesta makes it 4 for Barça
Min 59 | Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
Min 55 | Celtic manage a series of passes and Sinclair is set free. The Celt's No. 11 sees his cross cut out by the Barça rear-guard as Scott Brown goes into the book for a push on Neymar.
Min 53 | Celtic seem to retain the game-plan of the first period by launching aimless balls up to the sole Dembele. Rodgers impassive with no desire to modify the team's style.
Barcelona 3-0 Celtic
Min 50 | Delightfully executed strike from the Brazilian. De Vries only able to get a palm to the ball as it curls into the net.
Min 49 | Free kick for Barça as Neymar fires Barça 3-0 ahead. Gooooooooooooooooooool
Celtic and Barça met each other in Dublin this summer as part of the International Champions Cup with the Catalan side winning out 3-1 on the day.
Min 46 | |We're back at Camp Nou. Barça start the half with Iniesta on for Rakitic.
We're back at Camp Nou....
Half time analysis:
An easy 45 minutes for Barça at Camp Nou this evening with Celtic opting to pack the defense and hope to hit the Catalan side on the break. The plan was rumbled after just three minutes as Messi rifled home a ferocious drive and the Argentine was on hand again tapping home from a Neymar assist on 27. Celtic have been unable to get any form of a passing rhythm together but were gifted a lifeline after Ter Stegen tripped Dembele and the French born player missed the resulting spot kick. A long 45 awaits Brendan Rodgers side!
Half-time at Camp Nou:
FC Barcelona 2-0 Celtic
Min 45 | Sinclair and Dembele are the brightest sparks for Celtic this evening as Mr. Hategan calls time on the first period.
Min 44 | Messi looking for his third fires over the bar in an acrobatic attempt to put the game beyond Celtic
Min 42 | Celtic have the ball in the net but Sinclair is well offside when firing home.
Min 40 | Andres Iniesta warms up in the Camp Nou touchline.
Min 39 | Rakitic into the book after the Croatian trips Scott Brown in mid flow.
Min 38 | With his brace tonight, Leo Messi equals Cristiano Ronaldo's Champions League group stage goals record of 49.
Min 36 | Neymar almost seals Barça's third as another lightning attack sees the Brazilian's shot smothered by De Vries in the Celtic goal.
Min 33 | Delightful play from Gomes, Alba and Neymar almost sets up Suarez for Barça's third as Rakitic almost slots home from a corner. Celtic totally outclassed by the home side.
Min 32 | Suarez tries a cheeky lobbed effort but just fails to get direction on the attempt.
30' - FC Barcelona 2-0 Celtic
Celtic will rue that missed penalty even more now in which Ter Stegen incidentally was booked for his trip on Dembele.
Barcelona 2-0 Celtic
The peroxide duo again as Messi taps in after a perfect one-two between both forwards.
Min 27 | Barça make it 2 !
Credit too to the Barça No. 1 making the right guess and denying the Celts a goal their play barely deserves.
Poor spot kick from the Celtic man, striking the ball at "a good height for a keeper".
Min 24 | Dembele misses as Ter Stegen guesses correctly and dives to his right to push the ball away.
Min 24 | Penalty for Celtic !
Min 23 | Pass, pass hoof....seems to be Celtic's game-plan.
Min 21 | A deceptive possession rate of 66% v 34% for the home side after 20 minutes.
Min 17 | Messi looks for Suarez and the Uruguayan just fails by inches to get contact on the cross. Celtic have no answer to Barça's insistence.
Min 15 | Messi almost makes it two after a fortunate ricochet bounces nicely for the Barça No. 10 and his left foot drive goes wide of the Celtic goal mouth.
Min 13 | Celtic happy to pack 10 men behind the ball when Barça are in possession with just Dembele in a forward position but the Scottish champions yet to mount anything resembling danger on Ter Stegen's goal.
Min 11 | Better from the Celts as they manages to string a series of passes together but the final ball into the box is easily dealt with by Ter Stegen.
Min 9 | Alba is up and running and no apparent damage as Celtic struggle to retain any form of possession.
Min 8 | Jordi Alba in distress after taking a knock, play temporarily halted
Min 6 | The worst possible start for Brendan Rodgers' men as the offside flag saves Celtic's blushes again as Toure almost finds his own net.
Barcelona 1-0 Celtic
Excellent link-up between Barça's blondes as Neymar finds Messi and the Argentine lashes home an unstoppable left foot belter from an acute angle.
Min 3 | Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooool. Messiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii strikes
Min 3| Excellent intricate build-up from Barça as they win their first corner of the evening
0 | Off we go, Celtic get us underway at Camp Nou
Barça in their classic navy and burgundy stripes and Celtic in their classic green and white hoops. Two of the finest kits in world football !
The teams take to the pitch at a hot and humid Camp Nou, a temperature of 27C and 61% humidity level awaits both side this evening as the FC Barcelona hymn belts out.
Good evening and welcome to our live feed as we bring you FC Barcelona vs. Celtic live from Camp Nou. It's just been confirmed that the other Group C game between Man. City and Borussia Monchengladbach has been postponed due to an unplayable surface in Manchester.
Last time Celtic visited Camp Nou was on December 11, 2013 and it was a night all Celts fans would like to forget as Barça romped to a 6-1 home win with a Neymar hat-trick rounding off a perfect night for the Catalan side with a victory which saw them top their group at the time. Greek striker Samaras (currently plying his trade with NASL side Rayo OKC bagged a consolation goal for the hoops in the 87th minute).
Brendan Rodgers looks set to play with a five man defence with Costa Rican defender Cristian Gamboa making his debut for the Hoops tonight and the 26 year old will be faced with the task of stopping the attacking prowess of the M-S-N.
A much changed line-up from Luis Enrique for tonight's Group C opener as Celtic are the visitors at Camp Nou. Ter Stegen is back in goal and eight changes in total from the Asturian coach to the team who took the field in the weekend's shock LaLiga defeat to newly promoted Alaves.
Barcelona v Celtic team news:
Barcelona XI:
Ter Stegen, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Suárez, Messi, Neymar, Jordi Alba, S.Roberto, A.Gomes, Umtiti
Celtic XI:
De Vries, Gamboa, Lustig, Toure, Sviatchenko, Tierney, Roberts, Brown, Bitton, Sinclair, Dembele
Preview of Barcelona vs Celtic
Although tonight sees the clash of two of world football's most supported teams, there is a massive gap between them in terms of playing staff. In saying that, both had extraordinarily mixed fortunes in their most recent league games as they welcomed newly promoted sides to their homes.
FC Barcelona
The Spanish league champions come into this game as clear favourites and anything other than a victory would be a huge surprise. Their fans too will be expecting a much improved performance and immediate response to their shock defeat on Saturday evening to lowly Alavés, new arrivals in 2016 to the Primera.
Both Luis Enrique and Luis Suárez have been speaking about their admiration of Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers' style of play and they will take few chances tonight with the policy of using the wider squad members put on hold. The dynamic trident of Messi, Suárez and Neymar will almost certainly lead from the off as the strongest XI aim to get the European campaign into gear. Ter Stegen could well be back to start between the sticks.
Celtic FC
For the Scottish champions this game can be seen as a no-lose situation. Not many are expecting them to return to Glasgow with three points, and a single one would represent a good night's work. Avoiding a demoralising defeat is the first objective although listening to a positive Brendan Rodgers you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
Their numerous fans will paint the coastal city green and white with most not able to get tickets for the game - there are just too many. And both team and supporters couldn't come into this game in better spirits having just beaten old foes Rangers 5-1. A hat-trick in this game from Frenchman Dembélé will have Enrique's men aware of potential difficulties but the way the Hoops line up - as well as their mentality - should be considerably changed from that Old Firm encounter.
'Backs to the wall'. 'Defence against attack'. 'Men against boys'. These phrases have been used in games like this before. But, as Alavés showed only 3 days ago, football can often surprise.