European Champions League

Barcelona 2 – Bayer Leverkusen 1

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Dani Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Mathieu; Rakitic (Sergi Roberto 72‘), Busquets, Iniesta (Jordi Alba 60’); Sandro (Munir 63’), Luis Suárez, Neymar. 4-3-3.
Leverkusen: Leno; Tah, Papadopoulos, Wendell, Donati (Hilbert 76’); Bender, Kramer; Kampl, Calhanoglu, Bellarabi (Brandt 66’); Chicharito Hernández (Kiessling 55’). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 22. Papadopoulos. Steered near post header past Ter Stegen from corner.
1-1. 80. Sergi Roberto. Poked ball over line after Leno blocked shot from Munir.
2-1. 82. Luis Suárez. Turned shot into near top corner of net from Munir cross.

Problems for Barcelona in their first game without the injured Leo Messi, although in the end they came back from a goal down to beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1. Rakitic and Sandro tested Leno early on, but Ter Stegen had to save from Chicharito, and Bellarabi and Kampl went close before Papadopoulos got in front of his marker to head Calhanoglu’s corner in from the near post. Ter Stegen was in action again soon afterwards to keep out Bellarabi, but Neymar hit the post, and Sandro and Rakitic both had shots blocked before the break. Chicharito missed a sitter after the restart, and later in the first half Sandro, Neymar and Luis Suárez all failed to convert chances. Things looked grim when Iniesta limped off to join an ever growing injury list, but with ten minutes to go Sergi Roberto poked in the equalizer after Leno could only push out a shot from Munir, and just two minutes later Luis Suárez connected with Munir’s cross to fire home the winner.