Luis Suarez, Sergi Roberto seal Barcelona’s comeback vs Bayer Leverkusen

Barcelona achieved an agonising 2-1 victory against Bayer Leverkusen at the Camp Nou on Matchday 2 of the Champions League group stage. Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez scored the goals for the Blaugrana, who enjoyed 69 percent of possession, created 17 goal-scoring chances and attempted 13 shots, nine of them on target and one to the post.

Contrary to the vast majority of teams who visit the Camp Nou in European competition, the Germans refused to park the bus and applied pressure all over the pitch instead. Although normally rivals would run out of steam after chasing shadows and submit to Barca’s superiority, the visitors’ brave approach was rewarded with the opener halfway through the first half.

Barcelona looked particularly vulnerable in their own final third, especially when they struggled to make effective use of their overwhelming possession. With the Camp Nou faithful already fearing the stories of Messi-dependence making a glorious comeback, the most pessimistic Cules were already dreading a shocking result in their first European home game of the season.

READ the full column by Francesc Tomas, including player ratings, here.