Messi hat-trick as Barca hit Celtic for seven

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Barcelona (AFP) – Lionel Messi bagged a hat-trick and Neymar grabbed four assists as Barcelona launched their Champions League campaign in style with a 7-0 thrashing of Celtic on Tuesday.

Messi and Neymar were reunited with Luis Suarez from the start for the first time this season and took no time in getting reacquainted as all three were on the scoresheet.

Two goals from Messi either side of Moussa Dembele’s missed penalty for Celtic gave Barca a comfortable half-time lead.

And there was no let-up for the Scottish champions after the break as Neymar, Messi, Andres Iniesta and a Suarez double completed the rout.

However, Barca could face further sanctions from UEFA after thousands of separatist Catalan flags were again flown at the Camp Nou.

The Spanish champions were fined 150,000 euros ($ 170,000) by UEFA for the presence of the flags during last season’s competition, 50,000 euros of which was suspended for two years.

Messi had started Saturday’s shock 2-1 defeat to Alaves on the bench due to the after-effects of a minor groin injury, but took just three minutes to make his presence felt with a rising drive into the top corner from Neymar’s lovely through ball.

The five-time World Player of the Year sent another effort inches wide from the edge of the area as Celtic struggled to get out of their own half in the early stages.

However, they had a great chance to level against the run of play when Dembele surged onto Scott Sinclair’s pass and was upended by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Dembele was Celtic’s hat-trick hero in a 5-1 thrashing of Glasgow rivals Rangers on Saturday, but he failed to add to his burgeoning reputation as ter Stegen flew to his right to turn the Frenchman’s penalty behind.

The German ‘keeper has now saved three of the four penalties he has faced in the Champions League. 

Barca immediately upped a gear and doubled their advantage three minutes later when a sensational exchange of passes between Neymar and Messi freed the latter to tap home his second of the night despite the presence of seven Celtic defenders in the area.

The one-way traffic continued after the break as Dorus de Vries could only parry Neymar’s free-kick into the top corner for his first goal of the season.

Iniesta had been introduced at half-time and for all Messi’s magic, the midfield schemer struck the goal of the night with a ferocious volley from Neymar’s cross.

Suarez was lauded as the best striker in the world by Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, who was in charge of the Uruguayan for two years at Liverpool, on the eve of the game.

However, Suarez showed his unselfishness rather than his killer instinct a minute later by squaring for Messi to roll home and complete his sixth Champions League hat-trick.

Suarez did eventually get his goal, though, as he controlled another Neymar chipped pass before swivelling and smashing the ball into the roof of the net past a helpless de Vries.

And Messi’s low cross was prodded home from close range by Suarez to cap a humbling evening for Rodgers’s men on their return to the Champions League after a three-year absence.

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Rodgers hails ‘near-on perfect’ start with Celtic

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Glasgow (AFP) – Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers hailed his players for making what he described as a near perfect start to the season after a 4-1 win over Aberdeen took them top of the Scottish Premiership.

It capped off a great week for the Scottish champions who clinched a place in the lucrative group stage of the Champions League following a 5-4 aggregate win over Israeli side Hapoel Beer-Sheva on Tuesday.

Rodgers, who replaced Ronny Deila in May, has also helped guide his side to the last eight of the League Cup while winning three out of three in the Premiership to top the table.

And the former Liverpool manager admitted his delight with the way his players have bounced back from the humiliation of a 1-0 defeat to minnows Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar in his first competitive game in charge.

“I think it’s been near-on perfect when you think that we’re into the quarter-final of the League Cup, we’ve qualified for the Champions League and we’ve won three out of three in the League, and they were three tough games,” the Celtic manager said.

“St Johnstone away, Hearts before that and now Aberdeen at home, so it was a tough start and to come out of those games having scored the goals we have is fantastic.

“We’re disappointed in one or two of the goals that we’ve conceded but that will improve and get better.

“I think that the start the players have made has been fantastic.”

Celtic, who have been drawn with Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Moenchengladbach in their Champions League group, are now top of the Premiership table, a point clear of Rangers with a game in hand.

– ‘Relentless’ –

Leigh Griffiths fired Celtic into a 13th-minute lead against the Dons with a unstoppable strike but Aberdeen equalised against the run of play through Adam Rooney in the 32nd minute.

A fantastic finish from James Forrest restored Celtic’s advantage before Mark Reynolds saw red for bundling Scott Sinclair off the ball in the box late on. 

The former Manchester City winger fired home from the penalty spot and Australian international Tom Rogic curled home a stoppage time free-kick to seal the win.

On Friday, Rangers were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Kilmarnock at Rugby Park and next up is the first Old Firm clash of the season at Celic Park on September 10. 

“I thought it was arguably our best result of the season just because of everything that has happened before it,” Rodgers said of the Aberdeen game.

“It has been so difficult for the players because of all the travelling they’ve done so I had to freshen it up early in the second half. 

“The impetus this gave us to go on for the final half-hour of the match was really good.

“To end up scoring four goals against a very good side, late on again, really shows the mental and physical fitness of the players. They are relentless at the moment.

“I thought today was a game where they had a choice; they’ve qualified for the Champions League so they might not go in with the same ambition and the same intensity.

“It’s maybe a game they can win but it’s maybe a game they can lose or draw. But if they’re going to be as relentless as we want them to be then you have to go and win this game and I thought they won it very well.”

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Confidence high in Celtic camp, says Forrest

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Glasgow (AFP) – Winger James Forrest says confidence among the Celtic players is sky high ahead of their crucial Champions League play-off match against Hapoel Beer-Sheva.

The Hoops star grabbed the third goal in a 4-2 win over St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday as the champions warmed up for the return leg in Israel by continuing their winning start to the domestic season.

Celtic will take a 5-2 advantage into the tie at the Turner Stadium in Israel on Tuesday and Forrest, who recently signed a new three-year deal at the club, hailed the positive impact new manager Brendan Rodgers was having on the squad.

“Confidence is going through the full team just now since the start of pre-season. We’re kicking on and hopefully we can take that confidence into Tuesday night,” the winger said.

“I just think since day one of pre-season it has been hard training and everybody has been benefiting from it –- fitness and football-wise as well. The more games we play we can kick on from there and I think we did that today.

“This is a hard place to come to and get three points,” Forrest added of the game at McDiarmid Park. 

“We had a good performance on Wednesday and had a good result. Everyone wanted to play and come here because it is still important to get the three points and keep the momentum going for Tuesday night.”

The Scottish champions dominated the first half in Perth as Leigh Griffiths marked his 26th birthday with a fine finish in the 28th minute before Scott Sinclair grabbed his third goal since joining from Aston Villa earlier this month when he fired home in the 40th minute.

Forrest added a third following a rampaging run in the 44th minute as Celtic appeared to be cruising to victory.

But there were moments of concern in the second half as the Hoops saw a 3-0 lead slip back to 3-2 for the second time in the space of a week — Hapoel Beer-Sheva had done the same in Glasgow before Celtic won 5-2.

Danny Swanson scored from the penalty spot and Steven MacLean made it 3-2 in the 89th minute when Celtic were temporarily down to 10 men as Liam Henderson received treatment before substitute Ryan Christie made it more comfortable for the Hoops with a stoppage-time strike.

– ‘Bitter taste’ –

However, Rodgers said he couldn’t criticise his side too much.

“I thought for 99.9 per cent of the match the team were outstanding,” Rodgers said. 

“Right through to the last 10 minutes of that game we had a brilliant team performance. 

“It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth when you concede two goals when you’ve had the majority of the game.

“It was bad decision-making. We shouldn’t be so rash in the box. Young Liam Henderson has to learn from that. 

“Then we concede a soft goal when we were down to 10 men but apart from that I’ve got no criticism.

“Some of the football, in the first half in particular, was very impressive and a joy to watch at times.

“We still have a lot of improvements to make of course but we’ll travel to Israel in good confidence. But we have to respect that they are a good side and we still have a bit of work to do.”

Rangers top the Scottish Premiership table by a point, albeit having played a game more than their Old Firm rivals, as they came from behind to defeat Motherwell 2-1. 

Scott McDonald had Motherwell in front in the first half but Harry Forrester’s strike levelled matters before Kenny Miller struck the winner in stoppage time.

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Celtic mindful of past Champions League history as Astana await

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Glasgow (AFP) – Celtic may be the favourites to progress from their Champions League qualifier against Astana on Wednesday but the Scottish champions don’t need to look far back in their history to find reasons to be wary.

Leigh Griffiths’ late equaliser in Kazakhstan last week secured a 1-1 first-leg draw and gave Brendan Rodgers’ side a vital away goal that puts the Hoops in the driving seat to progress to the final play-off round.

It was an impressive result in tough conditions for Celtic against a side that played in the group stages of last year’s competition and were unbeaten at home against Benfica, Galatasaray and eventual finalists Atletico Madrid.

Celtic, who are aiming to return to the group stages for the first time since 2013/14, will take encouragement from the fact Astana have failed to win away from home in the Champions League while managing just two goals in their seven ties.

Despite this, first team coach John Kennedy is all too aware last week’s result is far from a guarantee of reaching the next stage.

Two years ago Kennedy was a matter of weeks into his new role under the tutelage of Norwegian manager Ronny Deila and assistant John Collins when Celtic drew 1-1 away to Slovenian side Maribor in the play-off round.

It left Celtic within touching distance of the lucrative group stages, but their opponents turned the tie on its head at Celtic Park when they scored a late winner to condemn the Scottish champions to the Europa League.

There has been a change in manager since then with former Liverpool boss Rodgers now the man tasked with leading Celtic to the promised land of the group stages.

Kennedy has urged his side to learn from that bitter experience against Maribor and believes they can extend their run of four straight victories at home in qualification.

“At the time it was tough mentally to take but the memories will give the players greater awareness going into this match,” Kennedy said.

“That’s a useful experience for us to learn from.

“There are a lot of players from that tie still in the squad who were a part of that, too.

“But we always knew this was going to be a tough tie and the first leg showed that. The conditions were tough but coming home with a 1-1 in the bag is as positive as we could have asked for.

“We wanted to make sure we got a positive result and getting the away goal was massive for us. The way the tie is balanced is great for us as preparation-wise we go in with a positive mindset. 

“We’re not going in to this just trying to hang on. Our mindset is to go and win the game and put the tie to bed.”

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Messi quiet but Barcelona stroll past Celtic

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Dublin (AFP) – A blond-haired Lionel Messi failed to get on the scoresheet but it hardly mattered as under-strength Barcelona taught Celtic a footballing lesson in a Dublin friendly on Saturday.

Strikes by Arda Turan and Munir El Haddadi, and an own goal by Efe Ambrose — all before the break — were enough to earn a 3-1 victory for Luis Garcia’s men in what was their first game back after the summer.

Leigh Griffiths had replied to Turan’s opener, but boss Brendan Rodgers will be concerned with how vulnerable his defence looked once again, ahead of Celtic’s crucial Champions League third qualifying round clash with Astana on Wednesday.

The tie is delicately balanced at 1-1 ahead of the second leg at Parkhead.

Barcelona came to Dublin without Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Javier Mascherano, Claudio Bravo and Jordi Alba, who aren’t back in training until tomorrow, while Neymar is preparing for the Olympics in Brazil.

But there was more than a sprinkling of quality with Messi and Luis Suarez bringing enough star power to help fill over 47,000 seats at Lansdowne Road.

Rodgers made four changes to the side that drew at Astana last Wednesday, but new signing Kolo Toure did not travel.

Things had looked good for Celtic early on and they almost opened the scoring after just 13 seconds when Patrick Roberts capitalised on a Jeremy Mathieu slip, cut inside -– Messi-style -– but sent his curling effort inches wide of Jordi Masip’s goal.

With Roberts a constant threat, Celtic had the bulk of the early chances, but when the opening goal came it was from the Spanish champions, Turan firing home powerfully from the edge of the box.

Roberts continued to get the fans on their feet, delivering some of the slalom runs many would have come to see Messi perform.

But when Celtic scored the assist came from a Barcelona error, handing Griffiths a tap-in from five yards out.

Ambrose and keeper Craig Gordon then conspired to concede a howler, with the centre-half stretching to intercept a harmless cross and sending it beyond the hapless Gordon.

Barcelona added a third before the break as Celtic’s defence collapsed again, with Suarez nipping behind all too easily, before nutmegging Ambrose and squaring to Munir, who was all alone to slot home.

Both sides swapped their entire starting 11s as the second half passed, with a quiet Messi — sporting his new peroxide blond hair — going off at the break.

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