Barcelona defied an outgoing off-field crisis as another Lionel Messi-inspired display exacted revenge on Juventus to open their Champions League campaign with a resounding 3-0 win on Tuesday. Barcelona’s forward from Argentina Lionel Messi (R) celebrates past Barcelona’s defender from Spain Gerard Pique after scoring during the UEFA Champions League Group D football match FC Barcelona vs Juventus at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on September 12, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Josep LAGO Messi was involved in all three goals as he beat Gianluigi Buffon for the first time in his career to open the floodgates just before half-time.
Ivan Rakitic added a second after Messi’s run
and cross opened up the Juventus defence before the Argentine rounded off the
scoring by drilling home his second of the evening 19 minutes from time.
Victory puts Barca on top of Group D alongside Sporting Lisbon, who were 3-2
winners at Olympiakos. Barca’s start to the season has been dominated by calls
for president Josep Maria Bartomeu to resign following Neymar’s world record
move to Paris Saint-Germain and the Catalan giants’ bungled moves to replace
the Brazilian. However, Ousmane Dembele impressed on his full debut following a
105 million-euro ($126 million) move from Borussia Dortmund, as Barca proved as
long as they have Messi there is life after Neymar. Juventus showed even more
upheaval since the sides last met in last season’s quarter-finals with six
changes from their trip to the Camp Nou just five months ago. The Italian
champions progressed comprehensively 3-0 on aggregate back then and threatened
to expose Barca again early on with Marc-Andre ter Stegen forced into three
early saves to deny Mattia de Sciglio, Paulo Dybala and Miralem Pjanic.
Dembele
was showing plenty of promise, but often tried to beat one man too many in his
quest to impress as Barca struggled to create early on. Their best effort
before opening the scoring came when a Messi free-kick rebounded back into Luis
Suarez’s path and his fierce effort was turned over by Buffon. Dembele was
involved in the move as Messi broke his personal duck against Buffon in the
final minute of the first half. Messi picked up the Frenchman’s pass before
exchanging a one-two with Suarez and firing with unerring accuracy just inside
the far post. Juventus had a big chance to respond right at the start of the
second half, but Dybala couldn’t match his international teammate’s finish and
he lifted his shot over the bar. Messi was inches away from his second as
another rasping left-foot drive came back off the inside of the post, rebounded
off the back of Buffon’s head and dropped just wide.
Yet, Messi was also
fortunate to escape his first ever red card at club level moments later as he
was booked by Slovenian referee Tomaz Klancnik for his attempts to get a
Juventus player cautioned. Aided by his teammates, though, Messi continued his
protests and could easily have been shown a second yellow by a more stringent
official. His clash with the referee only seemed to inspire Messi to greater
heights as he drove through the Juventus defence once more and, when his low
cross was only partially cleared by Stefano Sturaro, Rakitic slotted home the
rebound. Buffon momentarily denied Messi his double with a fine save from a
free-kick. However, the veteran goalkeeper was helpless once more 21 minutes
from time when Messi cut inside onto his left foot and buried the ball into the
bottom corner for his eighth goal of the season already.
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