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Barcelona comes back to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach in Champions League

Gerard Pique
Gerard Pique scored the winning goal for Barcelona in the 73rd minute. (Reuters)

Second-half goals from Arda Turan and Gerard Pique saw Barcelona maintain its perfect start in the Champions League as the Blaugrana came from a goal down to defeat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-1 on Wednesday.

Gladbach had taken the lead in the first half when Thorgan Hazard, the less famous brother of Chelsea star Eden Hazard, opened the scoring in a brilliant counterattacking move by the home side.

Turan pulled Barça level midway through the second half, getting on the end of a ball from Neymar and driving home the equalizer. A few minutes later Pique converted what proved to be the match-winner from close range after a fumbled save from Gladbach keeper Yann Sommer.

With Lionel Messi still sidelined by an abductor injury, new signing Paco Alcacer lined up alongside Neymar and Luis Suarez in the Barcelona attack in his first Champions League start. The match also bore special significance for Barça keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who spent his entire career at Gladbach prior to joining the Spanish powerhouse two years ago.

Gladbach got off to a very positive start, enjoying good possession early on with Hazard in particular causing Barcelona problems with his marauding runs down the flank.

However, it would be the visitors who would enjoy the better chances early on with Jordi Alba squaring the ball nicely for Neymar inside the first 10 minutes. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, his shot went right into the waiting arms of Sommer.

Luis Suarez came close a few moments later, but the Uruguayan put his left-footed shot wide.

Gladbach’s breakthrough came just past the half-hour mark when Raffael stripped the ball off Sergio Busquets, went charging up field and laid the ball on for Mahmoud Dahoud, who expertly crossed it into the path of Hazard. The charging Belgian side-footed a low shot past Ter Stegen for his first career Champions League goal.

Suarez came closest to finding a first-half equalizer for Barça, catching a ball from Ivan Rakitic on the volley and smashing it goal-ward, only to see his effort blocked by Sommer as the first half finished 1-0 in the home side’s favor.

Gladbach boss Andre Schubert was forced into a substitution early in the second half after Raffael, who’d been one of Borussia’s best players on the night, received a knock and had to make way for U.S. international Fabian Johnson.

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique made a substitution of his own a few minutes later, bringing on Rafinha for Alcacer, who exited the pitch at Borussia Park still looking for his first goal in Barcelona colors.

The first chance of the second half fell to Barça with Rakitic testing the keeper from the center of the box after getting on the end of a ball from Suarez. Moments later, the Croatian was subbed off for Turan as Enrique continued to probe for a way to unlock the dogged Gladbach defense.

The substitution proved fortuitous as just a few minutes later Turan muscled his way onto a lofted ball from Neymar and fired the equalizer into the roof of the net from inside the six.

With just over 15 minutes remaining in regulation time, Barcelona was awarded a corner. Neymar floated the ball in for Suarez, whose blasted effort was kept out by Sommer but knocked into the path of a well-placed Pique. The Barça defender made no mistake in prodding it home from close range.

Moments later, Turan nearly doubled his tally, connecting with a pass from Andres Iniesta and taking a crack from outside the box that forced Sommer into yet another save.

Hazard, the hero of the first half, was eventually subbed off to make way for Patrick Herrmann right on the 80th minute, by which point his opening goal had begun to seem like some time ago. A few minutes later Schubert took Lars Stindl off for Andre Hahn as the German tactician continued to look for a way back into the match.

But it was not to be for the Bundesliga side, which looks on track for a similarly disappointing conclusion to its participation in the group stage as it experienced last season, when it finished rock bottom of its group.

Might it have been easier for Barcelona had Messi been available? Almost undoubtedly.

But Enrique’s side has once again shown it has the ability to carry on winning without the Argentine maestro and now sits comfortably atop Group C, following Manchester City’s draw at Celtic.