Barcelona 3-0 BATE Borisov: Deadly duo Neymar and Luis Suarez continue fine goalscoring form in the absence of Lionel Messi

Neymar and Luis Suarez were at it again at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night with the Brazilian scoring twice and the Uruguayan once in a comfortable win over BATE Borisov.

Lionel Messi is almost definitely out of the November 21 Clasico but with Suarez and Neymar in this sort of goalscoring form the team might just make it through until his return.

Barcelona’s last 17 goals have all been scored by Neymar and Suarez and against BATE the former rolled in a penalty for the first and then he made the second for Suarez and scored the third from the former Liverpool striker's pass. 

Neymar has 16 goals in the Champions League – two more than Ronaldinho. And Suarez with 37 goals in 59 games for Barca in all competitions is just one goal behind Diego Maradona and two behind Romario. Maradona scored 38 goals in 58 games and Romario 39 in 66 matches.

Three of the club’s most famous forwards are seeing their career numbers fade in the face of two-thirds of the current front-three. In Messi’s absence Suarez and Neymar are re-writing the club’s record books.

Before the game started Uefa’s anthem was whistled by Barcelona fans. They are upset at two fines imposed for displaying the ‘Estelada’ Catalan Independence flag at last season's Champions League final and this season against Bayer Leverkusen. The flag is considered by Uefa to be a political symbol.

There were more Esteladas than ever inside the stadium on Wednesday and the club had draped a huge 'Respect' Banner from the main stand. Uefa delegate Karl-Erik Nilsson was at the Camp Nou photographing the display of defiance and Uefa will now have to decide whether to issue a third fine. 

On the pitch Neymar and Suarez continue to be the standard bearers. They almost combined for the first when Neymar played a pass through to Suarez but he shot wide.

Neymar then won a free-kick when Nemanja Milunovic ended his run across the face of the penalty area. He took the set-piece himself but blazed it over.

BATE won a free-kick on the edge of the Barca area after Vermaelen fouled Mikhail Gordeichuk and Marc-Andre ter Stegen had to save Igor Stasevich's set-piece.

Having not taken their early chances Barcelona were dealt an injury blow with Ivan Rakitic hobbling off to be replaced by Munir who then won the penalty for the first goal. He cut in from the right touchline and passed to Suarez. When he gave it back to Munir he was bundled over by Filip Mladenovic and referee Istvan Vad pointed to the spot. 

Neymar has taken Barcelona’s last two penalties and scored them both without a run-up. He stared down Sergei Chernik and when the BATE keeper blinked first and dived to his left, Neymar rolled the ball to his right for 1-0.

The biggest cheer of the first half came when Ter Stegen charged to the corner flag to sweep up a loose ball and found himself under pressure from Dmitri Mozolevski. He didn’t panic hoofing it out of play, but instead dribbled it forward and found a team-mate. That and Neymar’s laid-back spot kick summed up Barca’s first half dominance.

There was some second-half showboating from Iniesta and Busquets before the second goal came. Busquets started the move as he broke away with the ball. He looked to have picked the wrong option ignoring Munir in acres of space on the right to play in Neymar down the left. The Brazilian crossed to Suarez and after two quick touches to get the ball out of his feet he used his third touch to shoot past Chernik. It was his eighth goal in his last nine games.

He turned provider again with the third of the night unselfishly crossing for Neymar. The win had been sealed but Roma's late goal to claim a 3-2 victory against Bayer Leverkusen ensured qualification was not. ‘Batman’ Messi might be injured but the Dynamic Duo have never been better

 Source: Dailymail