Glasgow (Scotland), Oct 2 (IANS/EFE) FC Barcelona beat Celtic 1-0 Tuesday in a Champions League match at Glasgow, thanks to a late goal by Cesc Fabregas, who started in place of the injured Lionel Messi.
The Scottish side, hoping to replicate the magic that allowed them to beat Barça when the Catalan powerhouse’s last visited Celtic Park, battled to the end, despite having to play the final third of the contest without captain Scott Brown.
Celtic’s leader was ejected in the 58th minute for an aggressive challenge against Neymar.
The home side rose to the occasion, stonewalling the Barcelona offense and even managing to mount a serious scoring threat of their own, emboldening the 60,000 Celtic fans to think there was still a chance to win.
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Those thoughts were quickly dispelled by a Barcelona counterattack that led to Fabregas’ decisive goal in the 77th minute.
The result leaves Barça atop Group H with six out of six possible points, while winless Celtic is stuck in the cellar.
Tuesday’s other action saw a rebound by two favourites who lost their opening Champions League matches, as visiting Chelsea pounded Steaua Bucarest 4-0 and Borussia Dortmund dominated Olympique Marseille 3-0 at home.
Two other sides continued their winning ways: Arsenal, who rolled to a 2-0 home victory over Napoli; and Atletico Madrid, 2-1 away winners over Porto.
Elsewhere, Schalke 04 beat Basel 1-0, Zenit St. Petersburg and Austria Wien held each other scoreless and Ajax and AC Milan played to a 1-1 draw.
Arsenal leads Group F, while Atletico Madrid is in command of Group G and Schalke is leader of the pack in Group E.
