Barcelona made last weekend's league defeat to Alaves seem like an aberration as they thumped seven goals past a hapless Glasgow Celtic at the Camp Nou early on Wednesday IST. Lionel Messi led the rout by grabbing his record sixth hat-trick in the Champions League, while Luis Suarez bagged a double, and Andres Iniesta and Neymar got a goal each. The margin of the defeat was Celtic's worst in European history and would have come as a rude shock to manager Brendan Rodgers.
Barcelona were at it from the word go, netting their first goal within three minutes, with Messi thumping a short corner in from a tight angle. The hosts kept attacking following the goal, as Messi and Suarez both missed some great chances. Barcelona were handed a scare when Marc-Andre ter Stegen conceded a penalty after bringing Moussa Dembele down in the penalty box, but the shot-stopper made up for it by saving the Celtic striker's effort.
There was no stopping Barca from there on as Messi tapped in an easy goal in the 28th minute after some shoddy defending and a Neymar assist. The Brazilian then himself got on to the score sheet in the second half via a curling effort into the top-left corner off a free kick from 25 yards out. Neymar had a hand in his team's next goal as well, as his cross was volleyed into the goal by substitute Andres Iniesta to make it 4-0.
Barcelona were nowhere near done as Messi got his hat-trick from close range, poaching a pass that was headed towards Neymar. Suarez then got on to the score sheet with a brilliant goal, chesting the ball and slamming it in with his left foot. The Uruguayan got one more to make it 7-0 with a sliding tap-in, as Barcelona dug the dagger deeper into Celtic.
