Magical Messi leads Barca; Chelsea, Man United, PSG cruise
A mesmeric Lionel Messi scored twice as he inspired Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Juventus to get off to a flying start in Champions League Group D late Tuesday night, avenging last season’s quarterfinal elimination by the Italian champion.
Messi broke the deadlock on the stroke of halftime by playing a slick one-two off Luis Suarez and arrowing the ball beyond Gianluigi Buffon, finally getting the better of the veteran Italian in his fourth game against him.
The Argentine was also the catalyst for the second goal, forcing Juve to scramble the ball off the line and allowing Ivan Rakitic to shoot into an empty net in the 56th minute and add to his strike against Juve in the 2015 final.
But Messi was far from done. For his second and Barca’s third he received a pass from Andres Iniesta and ripped more holes in a depleted Juventus defense before lashing beyond a dejected Buffon, scoring his seventh goal in three games.
Juventus, which was missing five key players including defensive warrior Giorgio Chiellini, looked a shadow of the team that beat Barca 3-0 on aggregate last season to reach the final.
While the Catalans have faced instability off the pitch, they look fresh and confident on it under new coach Ernesto Valverde.
“When we play at this speed it’s very difficult to play against us,” said Rakitic. “Barca doesn’t change coaches very often, but now we have new ideas and we’re very happy with how things are going.”
In other action, Chelsea enjoyed a triumphant return to the Champions League after a year out on Tuesday, thumping the competition’s debutant Qarabag 6-0, including a stunning, if miscued, strike from new signing Davide Zappacosta.
The Italian was joined on the scoresheet by another new Chelsea arrival Frenchman Tiemoue Bakayoko on a satisfying night for manager Antonio Conte after a summer of much-publicized frustration in the transfer market.
“It was a good start for us. To score many goals, to win and to have a clean sheet – I saw a lot of positive things tonight,” Conte said.
Meanwhile, Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford both opened their Champions League accounts as Manchester United returned to the competition with a 3-0 rout of Basel in its opening Group A match at Old Trafford.
United, which missed last season’s Champions League but qualified this time by winning the Europa League, went ahead through early substitute Marouane Fellaini’s 35th-minute header and cruised from there.
Also, Paris Saint Germain’s attacking trio of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani were all on the scoresheet as they tore Celtic apart to lead the French club to a 5-0 rout in the Group B opener. (Reuters) LIONEL MESSI ended his hoodoo against ’keeper Gianluigi Buffon with lethal strikes either side of halftime, scoring for the seventh time in three games, in Barcelona’s 3-0 Champions League victory over Juventus on Tuesday night.