Barcelona cruises in as Leverkusen, Roma draw 4-4

Barcelona edged closer to sealing their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League as Ivan Rakitic’s double handed them a comfortable 2-0 win away at BATE Borisov.

Rakitic had started on the bench, but was pressed into action by a first-half injury to Sergi Roberto and opened the scoring after a frustrating opening period for the visitors soon after half time.

Neymar then teed up the Croatian midfielder for his second as Barca solidified their position atop Group E with seven points from their first three games.

An incredible 4-4 draw between Bayer Leverkusen and Roma in the group’s other game leaves Barca three points ahead of the Germans, with BATE a point ahead of Roma in third.

Neymar has taken the lead role since Lionel Messi was sidelined by a knee ligament injury three weeks ago and he nearly added to his four goals against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday within three minutes but his shot was too close to goalkeeper Sergei Chernik.

The visitors suffered another injury blow on 17 minutes when Roberto hobbled off, but his replacement Rakitic was to have a telling impact.

Read also: Neymar lifts Barcelona without Messi

Sergio Busquets was unfortunate to see a shot fly beyond the far post before Rakitic should have done better when unmarked from Dani Alves’s cross as the recently crowned Belarusian champions held out until half time.

However, it took Barca just three minutes to open the scoring after the break as Neymar set up Rakitic to fire his first goal of the season into the top corner.

Neymar’s search for a goal continued as he sent a sweetly struck volley inches wide moments later.

Yet he had an important part to play in the second goal as Rakitic received another pass from the Brazilian before lifting the ball over the advancing Chernik.

Meanwhile, Roma looked to have completed a remarkable turnaround at the BayArena on Tuesday night only to let hosts Bayern Leverkusen rescue a point.

Leverkusen raced into a two-goal lead through two strikes from Javier Hernandez, the first a penalty. But Roma hit back with a double from Daniele de Rossi before the break and then Miralem Pjanic gave the Italians the lead in the 54th minute.

Iago Falque made it 4-2 with 15 minutes left but Kevin Kampl and Admir Mehmedi both scored late on to secure the draw.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now