The buzz of the Big Bs

PARIS: Barcelona’s lethal MSN — Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar — dissected Celtic 7-0 while Bayern Munich, under new boss Carlo Ancelotti, ran riot over Russian

Published on: Sep 15, 2016, 06:32:18 IST

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PARIS: Barcelona’s lethal MSN — Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar — dissected Celtic 7-0 while Bayern Munich, under new boss Carlo Ancelotti, ran riot over Russian side Rostov 5-0.

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.

“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 we did.”

For Bayern, Joshua Kimmich grabbed a second-half double. Robert Lewandowski scored from the penalty spot, birthday boy Thomas Mueller swept in a goal and Spanish defender Juan Bernat completed the flurry of goals.

Bayern now have control 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.

Ancelotti 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.”

Elsewhere, the first goal of the 2016/2017 Champions League group stages was scored after a mere 42 seconds from the head of Paris Saint Germain 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.

The worst possible start for Arsenal hinted at a potential lopsided affair but the Gunners got out of jail with Alexis Sanchez’s leveller inside the final quarter of an hour.

Both sides ended with a man short as Olivier Giroud and Marco Verratti tussled clashed late in the game to be sent off.

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