Barcelona vs. Celtic: Score, Reaction from 2016 Champions League Match

Every once in a while, on a fateful evening in the Champions League, a club like Celtic will shock a club of Barcelona’s stature.

Tuesday was not that evening.

The Spanish champions absolutely steamrolled Celtic, 7-0, behind brilliant performances from Lionel Messi (three goals, one assist), Neymar (one goal, four assists) and Luis Suarez (two goals, one assist). Andres Iniesta also scored for the Catalans, who, save for one penalty scare in the first half, thoroughly dominated Celtic in every phase of the game.

Indeed, without being too harsh on Celtic, Barcelona appeared to be toying with them at times. The Catalans completely controlled this contest, as the stats from Squawka Football illustrate:

Barcelona 7-0 Celtic FT:Pass accuracy: 90%-80%Shots: 15-3Chances created: 12-0Possession: 65%-35% pic.twitter.com/je8VrMr4IU

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) September 13, 2016

And it didn’t take Barcelona long to establish their might. 

Just three minutes into the contest, Neymar played a perfect pass outside of the box to Messi, slipping him past the defense and leaving him alone down the left side. The Argentine superstar had a tough angle to shoot but wasn’t deterred, ripping a howler past goalkeeper Dorus de Vries.

It was typical Barcelona, and Celtic already looked out of their league, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News tweeted:

Lionel Messi and Barcelona needed three minutes to make Celtic look completely overmatched.

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) September 13, 2016

Messi has been nursing a hamstring injury he picked up during the international break, but you’d hardly know it, as Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated noted:

A not-100% Lionel Messi is still better than just about everyone at 100%.

— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) September 13, 2016

But Celtic appeared to have an answer.

The Scottish side roared on the counter in the 23rd minute, and Moussa Dembele was sent through on goal following a lovely through ball. Barcelona ‘keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen rushed forward to intercept the pass and dove for the ball, but Dembele got a foot on it first before Ter Stegen took …

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