League campaign back on track with a 3-1 win over Ajax at
Camp Nou.
The star forward duo have now both scored in each of Barca's
past five matches and Neymar gladly accepted a pass from his
partner in crime to net an early opener on Tuesday.
Messi doubled the advantage in the 24th minute - his ninth goal
of the season - and the prospect of Luis Enrique's team
bouncing back from their surprise 3-2 loss at Paris Saint-
Germain last time out in the Champions League was rarely in
doubt until substitute Anwar El Ghazi struck in the 88th minute
to set up a tense finale.
Ajax pressed for an equaliser, allowing Neymar's replacement
Sandro to seal the points on the break.
Barcelona can now look ahead to Saturday's eagerly anticipated
La Liga showdown with Real Madrid - where Luis Enrique will
finally have the enviable option of combining Luis Suarez with
Neymar and Messi in a formidable attacking trio.
Ajax - now without a win in nine away matches in Europe's
premier club competition - handed a first Champions League
start to left winger Ricardo Kishna, while Barcelona again
selected Marc-Andre ter Stegen for European action despite the
goalkeeper's shaky showing in Paris.
Messi started the night three goals shy of Raul's all-time record
of 71 Champions League goals, but the mercurial Argentine
played the role of provider in the seventh minute.
Some slick one-touch play from Barca allowed Messi to drive at
the Ajax defence and thread a perfectly-weighted pass into the
path of Neymar, who passed the ball home first-time.
Messi snatched at an opening of his own four minutes later but
he made no mistake midway through the half, just as Ajax
appeared to be growing into the contest.
Niki Zimling struck an aimless pass into midfield and Andres
Iniesta needed little invitation to thread a trademark through-
ball to Messi, whose shot squeezed home despite goalkeeper
Jasper Cillessen's best efforts.
That goal forced Ajax into the unenviable position of having to
chase Barca, and the visitors were almost picked off on the
break after 29 minutes when Messi found Pedro, the Spain
international shooting against the base of the right-hand post.
Iniesta sauntered through the Ajax defence six minutes before
half-time, only for Cillessen to deny him, and Ajax almost had a
lifeline before the break when Kolbeinn Sigthorsson's shot spun
wide having taken a deflection off Gerard Pique.
Barcelona resumed on the front foot and Messi prodded the bal
into the net from an offside position when Cillessen parried
Pedro's well-stuck 49th-minute drive, before the Barca talisman
weaved through several challenges to shoot into the side netting
Ricardo van Rhijn then sent a low effort narrowly wide from
Lasse Schone's pass and Ajax were offered another moment of
encouragement in the 63rd minute when Pique nervously sliced
a left-wing cross from Arkadiusz Milik onto the roof of his own
net.
Either side of that scare, Neymar and Messi departed to standin
ovations but Barcelona appeared to shift focus to their weekend
engagement as they closed the match in disjointed fashion.
El Ghazi bundled the ball home from close range and then Jord
Alba was forced into a desperate challenge to stop the teenage
winger from levelling matters, before Sandro scored his vital
third goal of the season in stoppage time.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
0 comments:
Post a Comment