Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Monchengladbach: Arda outshines Messi in Camp Nou rout

Posted Wednesday, December 07, 2016 by Goal.com

The Argentina star failed to break Cristiano Ronaldo's group stage record as his Turkish team-mate sparkled in the Group C finale

Arda Turan did what Lionel Messi needed to do as Barcelona cruised to a 4-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach at Camp Nou.

Messi required a hat-trick in the Group C encounter to surpass Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for most goals in the group stage and he opened the scoring in the 16th minute with this 10th of the stage.

However, Messi was overshadowed in the second half by Arda as the Turkey international scored a 17-minute hat-trick to ensure the group winners went through to the last 16 with five wins from six games.

Luis Enrique retained just three players from his side that drew El Clasico on Saturday, but Messi started, two goals short of Real Madrid rival Ronaldo's Champions League group-stage record haul.

Messi only managed to score one in a first half that saw most of Barca's chances fall his way, with Arda setting up the Argentine's goal in a redemptive outing for the winger, who had not started in this season's Champions League before Wednesday's tie.

Having little to lose did not prompt a cavalier approach from Gladbach, who operated with a six-man defence when Barcelona had the ball - which accounted for the majority of the match.

Arda played a pass behind the advancing Messi with Barca's first clear chance, but the Turkey international got things right when presented with another opportunity two minutes later.

Messi pounced on a loose ball to race through the centre before playing in Arda on the left and then darting into the box to sweep home the subsequent cut-back.

Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Monchengladbach: Arda outshines Messi in Camp Nou rout

Yann Sommer had to parry Messi's fierce drive over the crossbar two minutes later as the Barcelona number 10 - playing in a withdrawn role behind Paco Alcacer - inspired some of the Catalans’ lesser lights.

Barca probed and prodded Gladbach, who offered little in return, and Messi was denied his landmark goal by Tobias Strobl's last-ditch tackle two minutes from the break after fleet-footed work from Aleix Vidal and Denis Suarez on the right.

That same wide-right pairing combined again five minutes after half-time, as Suarez provided Arda with a simple header and he latched onto a pass from Vidal to clip the ball home and put Barca in sight of another big home win, following 7-0 and 4-0 victories over Celtic and City already this term.

Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Monchengladbach: Arda outshines Messi in Camp Nou rout

Alcacer did not take his chance to prove his first-team worth, blasting a one-on-one chance straight at Sommer, but the former Valencia striker did make Arda's hat-trick finish a simple one, playing a ball across the six-yard box that the winger netted.

Sommer produced a stunning one-handed save to deny Messi's chance to claim his place in the record books with a diving header, before Arda was afforded a richly deserved ovation when he was replaced by debutant Marc Cardona.

The celebratory mood gave way to a meandering finale, but a first win in four games - and such a dominant one - will put a spring back in Barca's step as they hunt down Madrid in LaLiga.