Barcelona put their weekend humiliation at the hands of Hercules behind them with two-goal Lionel Messi inspiring a 5-1 Champions League rout of Panathinaikos on Tuesday in their Group D opener.
Barcelona fell behind to a Sidney Govou goal on 20 minutes, but responded with three goals in 24 minutes, with Argentine Messi scoring twice, in the 21st and 45th minutes, and Spanish star David Villa netting his first Champions League goal for Barcelona.
Pedro Rodriguez and Brazilian Dani Alves scored late goals to complete the rout, while Messi came agonizingly close to a hat-trick, missing a penalty and hitting both posts in the second half.
It was a big win from the Spanish champions as they gave the perfect reply to Saturday’s painful 2-0 league defeat to promoted Hercules at the Camp Nou. The double from Messi means he has 27 Champions League goals and is the club’s all-time leading scorer in the competition at the age of 23.
“We couldn’t win on Saturday [against Hercules] and knew we had to win tonight,” Rodriguez said. “This victory gives us a lot of confidence and now we have a difficult match at Atletico Madrid, who are a tough team, especially at home.”
Barcelona’s next Champions League match is a trip to Russia to face Rubin Kazan on Sept. 29, but the league is now the priority and a tricky trip to league leaders Atletico awaits on Sunday.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola made five changes to the team that crashed to Hercules at the weekend, with Spanish World Cup winning quartet Xavi, Sergi Busquets, Rodriguez and Carles Puyol coming in.
Barcelona started on the front foot and had two good chances in the first five minutes.
Messi saw a header saved in the second minute and then set up the next move, sliding a brilliant pass to Andres Iniesta, who laid the ball off for Xavi meters from goal. Xavi seemed certain to score, but his shot with the outside of his right foot was too close to goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas, who parried well.
HOME FANS STUNNED
The Greek visitors were hanging on, but somehow conjured up a goal with their first attack of the match on 20 minutes. A neat back-heel flick from Djibril Cisse released fellow Frenchman Govou, who fired past Victor Valdes to stun the home fans, who feared another home defeat.
However, Messi allayed those worries 60 seconds later with a smart equalizer as Panathinaikos went to sleep.
Xavi floated a pass behind the Greeks and the unmarked Messi calmly stroked into the corner.
Villa, a summer signing from Valencia, then put Barca in front on 33 minutes when Busquets flicked on Xavi’s corner and Villa was on hand to smash home his first European goal for Barcelona.
Messi hit the crossbar a minute before the interval and then scored a fantastic goal on the stroke of halftime. On the run, the Argentine played a one-two with Xavi, then another one-two with Rodriguez, before curling a shot into the corner to wow the home fans.
Messi was brought down in the box 10 minutes into the second half and picked himself up to take the spot-kick. The Argentine sensed a hat-trick, but his tame penalty was saved by Tzorvas.
OLD BOY GARCIA
Panathinaikos introduced Barcelona old boy Luis Garcia, who came through the youth system before a big move to Liverpool in 2004, in the final 20 minutes, but there was no chance of a comeback.
On 77 minutes, Messi hit both posts with a clever shot from an acute angle and the ball came out to Rodriguez for an easy tap-in.
Alves scored Barca’s fifth in stoppage-time with a header to cap off a fine night for the hosts.
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