Lethal trio powers Barcelona to huge victory

Barcelona’s lethal MSN — Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar — dissected Celtic 7-0 while a deluge washed out Pep Guardiola’s eagerly awaited first Champions League game in charge of Manchester City.

There was no rain but there was a flood of goals at the Camp Nou, where a sparkling Messi hat-trick with four assists and a goal from Neymar, Andres Iniesta and a Suarez brace humiliated Celtic on Tuesday.

“There can be no embarrassment because they do that to better teams than ourselves,” said Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers. “They are special players. It is a front three that can occupy as many players as you want.”

Suarez, reunited with Messi and Neymar for the first time this season, told TV3: “It has been many games since we have been able to enjoy being on the pitch together and today we did.”

Celtic will have to shrug off this worst ever European defeat as their next Group C outing is at home to City.

After the weekend derby defeat of Manchester United, City had Borussia Moenchengladbach firmly in their sights but the fixture was called off just 20 minutes before kick-off with the Etihad Stadium hit by heavy rain. The match will now be played on Wednesday at 1845GMT.

The first goal of the 2016/2017 Champions League group stages came after a mere 42 seconds from the head of Paris Saint Germain striker Edinson Cavani at the Parc des Princes against Arsenal.

The strike was PSG’s quickest in the Champions League, but the French champions, and Cavani in particular, were guilty of failing to convert a succession of golden opportunities.

The worst possible start for Arsenal hinted at a potential lopsided affair but the Gunners got out of jail with Alexis Sanchez’s leveller inside the final quarter of an hour.

Both sides ended a man down after Olivier Giroud and Marco Verratti were sent off at the death.

Results: Group stage: Group A: At Paris: Paris Saint-Germain: 1 (Cavani 1st) drew with Arsenal: 1 (Sanchez 77th); At Basel: Basel: 1 (Steffen 80th) drew with Ludogorets: 1 (Cafu 45th).

Group B: At Kiev: Dynamo Kiev: 1 (Garmash 26th) lt to Napoli: 2 (Milik 36th, 45+2nd); At Lisbon: Benfica: 1 (Cervi 12th) drew with Besiktas: 1 (Talisca 90+3).

Group C: At Barcelona: Barcelona: 7 (Messi 3rd, 27th, 60th, Neymar 50th, Iniesta 59th, Suarez 75th, 88th) bt Celtic: 0; At Manchester: Manchester City vs Borussia Moenchengladbach (postponed).

Group D: At Munich: Bayern Munich: 5 (Lewandowski 28-pen, Mueller 45+2, Kimmich 53rd, 60th, Bernat 90th) Rostov: 0; At Eindhoven: PSV Eindhoven: 0 lt to Atletico Madrid: 1 (Niguez 43rd).