Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona finally clicked as Leo Messi inspired a 5-1 victory over Ferencváros to get the Dutchman’s Champions League campaign off to a winning start and dispel the memory of a lacklustre 1-0 defeat at Getafe. The margin of victory will also provide a shot in the arm for a club that has been in the doldrums for most of the new campaign ahead of the first Clásico of the season against Real Madrid next weekend.
Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot and had a hand in two more of Barça’s goals as the Argentinean put an uncharacteristically slow start to bed with his finest performance of the season to date. Barça’s captain has yet to score from open play but the spread of goals among Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembélé and Pedri will have pleased Koeman.
A lively cameo from the Frenchman was also well-timed with Barcelona facing Real Madrid and Juventus in the space of a week. Dembélé’s run and pass for Pedri’s goal was a work of art and just the sort of application Koeman will expect from the winger, who is playing for his Barcelona future this season.
The victory was only marred by Gerard Piqué’s sending off. Beaten for speed by the electric Tokmac Nguen, the Barça defender hauled the striker back and was shown a straight red, ruling him out against Juventus. Barça may well appeal on the basis that a yellow might have sufficed, but it was still a rookie error from a veteran with his side cruising at 3-0.
Ihor Kaharatin scored from the spot to hand Ferencváros a consolation that also denied the otherwise excellent Neto another clean sheet. But in a solid all-round team performance Koeman will also have noted the growing confidence of his back-up keeper ahead of a testing few days that will go some way to answering some questions that before Tuesday’s win the Dutchman may have preferred to postpone until after the international break.
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October 21, 2020 at 04:57AM
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Messi has Barcelona ticking against lively Ferencváros - AS English
"lively" - Google News
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