Barcelona 3-0 BATE Borisov: Deadly duo Neymar and Luis Suarez continue fine goalscoring form in the absence of Lionel Messi
Neymar and Luis Suarez were at it again at the
Camp Nou on Wednesday night with the
Brazilian scoring twice and the Uruguayan once
in a comfortable win over BATE Borisov.
Lionel Messi is almost definitely out of the
November 21 Clasico but with Suarez and
Neymar in this sort of goalscoring form the
team might just make it through until his return.
Barcelona’s last 17 goals have all been scored
by Neymar and Suarez and against BATE the
former rolled in a penalty for the first and then
he made the second for Suarez and scored the
third from the former Liverpool striker's pass.
Neymar has 16 goals in the Champions League
– two more than Ronaldinho. And Suarez with
37 goals in 59 games for Barca in all
competitions is just one goal behind Diego
Maradona and two behind Romario. Maradona
scored 38 goals in 58 games and Romario 39 in
66 matches.
Three of the club’s most famous forwards are
seeing their career numbers fade in the face of
two-thirds of the current front-three. In Messi’s
absence Suarez and Neymar are re-writing the
club’s record books.
Before the game started Uefa’s anthem was
whistled by Barcelona fans. They are upset at
two fines imposed for displaying the ‘Estelada’
Catalan Independence flag at last season's
Champions League final and this season against
Bayer Leverkusen. The flag is considered by
Uefa to be a political symbol.
There were more Esteladas than ever inside the
stadium on Wednesday and the club had draped
a huge 'Respect' Banner from the main stand.
Uefa delegate Karl-Erik Nilsson was at the
Camp Nou photographing the display of
defiance and Uefa will now have to decide
whether to issue a third fine.
On the pitch Neymar and Suarez continue to be
the standard bearers. They almost combined for
the first when Neymar played a pass through to
Suarez but he shot wide.
Neymar then won a free-kick when Nemanja
Milunovic ended his run across the face of the
penalty area. He took the set-piece himself but
blazed it over.
BATE won a free-kick on the edge of the Barca
area after Vermaelen fouled Mikhail Gordeichuk
and Marc Andre ter-Stegen had to save Igor
Stasevich's set-piece.
Having not taken their early chances Barcelona
were dealt an injury blow with Ivan Rakitic
hobbling off to be replaced by Munir who then
won the penalty for the first goal. He cut in
from the right touchline and passed to Suarez.
When he gave it back to Munir he was bundled
over by Filip Mladenovic and referee Istvan Vad
pointed to the spot.
Neymar has taken Barcelona’s last two
penalties and scored them both without a run-
up. He stared down Sergei Chernik and when
the BATE keeper blinked first and dived to his
left, Neymar rolled the ball to his right for 1-0.
The biggest cheer of the first half came when
Ter Stegen charged to the corner flag to sweep
up a loose ball and found himself under pressure
from Dmitri Mozolevski. He didn’t panic hoofing
it out of play, but instead dribbled it forward
and found a team-mate. That and Neymar’s laid-
back spot kick summed up Barca’s first half
dominance.
There was some second-half showboating from
Iniesta and Busquets before the second goal
came. Busquets started the move as he broke
away with the ball. He looked to have picked
the wrong option ignoring Munir in acres of
space on the right to play in Neymar down the
left. The Brazilian crossed to Suarez and after
two quick touches to get the ball out of his feet
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