Messi, Barca ease past Juventus
England’s four clubs get a sweep of wins with shutouts this week
There was no Cristiano Ronaldo on the field and there were no fans in the stands to see Barcelona and Lionel Messi beat Juventu s 2-0 away in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Ronaldo’s lingering COVID-19 case prevented a first meeting between him and Messi in the group stage of a competition they have combined to win nine times.
Barcelona took an early lead in Turin through Ousmane Dembele and had plenty of chances to seal the win long before Messi scored a penalty as 90 minutes ticked over into stoppage time.
Marcus Rashford had a hat trick as Manchester United beat Leipzig 5-0 at home, while Chelsea brushed aside Krasnodar 4-0 in Russia, giving England’s four clubs a sweep of wins this week without conceding a goal.
A wave of second-half goals also earned wins for Paris Saint- Germain (after losing Neymar early to injury), Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla.
Some of the gloss went out of the Juve-Barca game — the repeat of a standout final in 2015 — when Ronaldo was ruled out in the morning. His virus infection was revealed more than two weeks ago while on international duty with Portugal.
Barcelona quickly pushed back the Italian champion and Antoine Griezmann’s shot struck a post in the second minute. The lead arrived in the 14th from Dembele’s deflected, looping shot.
Barcelona’s forwards were often hesitant and wasteful, with even Messi missing the target with a clear shooting chance on his left foot.
Juventus officially had no shots on target, yet Alvaro Morata had a hat trick of goals disallowed for offside calls.
Also in Group G, Ferencvaros and Dynamo Kyiv missed the chance to join Juventus with three points by drawing 2-2 in Budapest before a crowd of 6,171.
Ferencvaros coach Serhiy Rebrov, who played and coached at Dynamo, saw his team fall two down in the first half, then earn a point with substitute Franck Boli’s 90th-minute strike.
Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich used his team’s trip to his home country to make a rare visit to see a game. Abramovich, whose British visa was withdrawn in 2018 during diplomatic tensions with Russia, was rewarded with a 4-0 win in Krasnodar.
Hakim Ziyech, in his first start for the 2012 European champion, scored in a late burst of goals. Another expensive summer signing, Timo Werner, scored a penalty after regular taker Jorginho missed from the spot in the 14th. United States international Christian Pulisic came off the bench to score in stoppage time.
Sevilla, which tied 0-0 at Chelsea last week, also has four points in Group E after beating Rennes 1-0.
Italian forward Moise Kean’s goals lifted Paris Saint-Germain to a 2-0 win at Istanbul Basaksehi r after Neyma r limped off with a muscle strain.
For a game between teams owned by the government of Turkey and the state of Qatar, PSG wore a uniform in the maroon of Qatar’s national flag. The official attendance was 350.