Messi and Coutinho on the score sheet as Barcelona thrash Ferencvaros 5-1 at the Nou Camp

The Catalan side were coming off the back of a 1-0 loss to Getafe at the weekend and looked shaky in the early stages. Ferencvaros were making their first appearance in the competition in over 20 years and started brightly but were initially undone by Barca’s quality. The Catalan giants started shaky but went on to dominate the game […]
2020-10-21 14:30:11

The Catalan side were coming off the back of a 1-0 loss to Getafe at the weekend and looked shaky in the early stages. Ferencvaros were making their first appearance in the competition in over 20 years and started brightly but were initially undone by Barca’s quality. The Catalan giants started shaky but went on to dominate the game soon enough. 

Ferencvaros were far from overawed in the early stages against their illustrious opponents, twice going close to taking the lead inside the opening 20 minutes. 

Nguen had a fine strike ruled out for offside before Isael crashed a powerful drive against Neto’s crossbar from 10 yards. 

They were left to rue those close calls in the 27th minute when Messi powered home from the spot after he had been tripped in the area by Adnan Kovacevic. 

Messi’s penalty shortly before the half-hour mark calmed any nerves while Fati doubled their advantage in the 42nd minute. 

Philippe Coutinho added a third early in the second half before Ihor Kharatin pulled one back for the visitors from the penalty spot after Pique had been dismissed for bringing down Tokmac Nguen inside the area.  

Barca would go on to add more with substitute Pedri scoring his first goal for the club eight minutes from time. Frenchman Ousmane Dembele wrapped it up adding a late fifth. 

For Messi, the goal saw him become the first player in Champions League history to score in 16 consecutive seasons. 

Barcelona will face a crunch El Clasico clash against Real Madrid at the weekend. After that, they will play one of the most anticipated Champions League games of the season when they travel to Juventus for their second group stage game.