Messi-less Barca fights back to down Gladbach
Barcelona proved they can win away in Europe even without Lionel Messi as they posted a 2- 1 comeback victory at Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Champions League on Wednesday ( Thurs Thorgan Hazard -- the younger brother of Chelsea midfielder Eden -gave Gladbach a shock, yet deserved first But goals in the final 25 minutes, from Arda Turan a n d Ge - rard P iqu e , sealed Barcelona's second hammering of Celtic at the
"They put in a huge effort in the first- half, but overall I think we were better and it is a deserved result," said match
Gladbach winger Patrick Herrmann admitted it was hard to put the brakes on the
"We did brilliantly to go 1- 0 up, but Barcelona are such a quality side -- you have to stay focused for the entire 90 min
"If you don't, they take full the game and it was a close- run affair in the end, but not the
With Messi out due to a groin injury, Barca coach Luis Enrique opted to start Spain international Paco Alcacer in the superstar's place alongside
But as Gladbach coach Andre Schubert had predicted in the pre- match press conference, the hosts refused to be overawed
Neymar and Suarez were rarely allowed more than a
Gladbach had the better of the opening exchanges at Borussia Park and fulley mer
Referee Damir Skomina missed a handball in the area when the ball clipped Gerard Pique's arm from Hazard's cross in the first five minutes, but then Gladbach took the lead with their first danger
Raffael dispossessed Sergio Busquets and broke into the Barca half before feeding Mahmoud Dahoud, who timed his pass into the box perfectly, flicking the ball into
The midfielder stabbed his shot past goalkeeper Marc- Andre ter Stegen on 34 minutes, to the delight of the home fans
It was clearly not the homecoming ter Stegen had envisaged, having left Gladbach in 2014 for Barca after 18 years
Gladbach managed to disrupt Barcelona's game until just
Germany midfielder Christoph Kramer was subduing Neymar while Dahoud was the
Turan came on for Ivan Rakitic on the hour mark and it proved to be an inspired switch
Neymar finally shook off Kramer to float a pass over the
Turan won the foot race to the ball and drilled his shot past Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer on 65 minutes
The winning goal came
Neymar's corner was deflected into the path of Suarez,
He slammed in a powerful shot, which was blocked by Sommer, but Pique was on hand to tap home the loose ball from close range, to En just