Gladbach 1-2 Barcelona
(Hazard 34' - Turan 65', Pique 74')

Barcelona began their quest for a sixth European crown with a 7-0 hammering of Celtic.

Gladbach, whose glory days came in the 1970s when they twice won the UEFA Cup, slumped to a 4-0 reverse at Manchester City.

The German side put on a much improved performance against their illustrious Spanish opponents with a pressing, harrying game that threw the Barca players off their stride.

Barca did have the better of the early chances, with Neymar, Luis Suarez, Paco Alcacer and Ivan Rakitic all going close but they were to pay for their profligacy.

Raffael dispossessed Sergio Busquets and fed the excellent Mahmoud Dahoud, who surged forward before slipping a clever pass to Thorgan Hazard for the Belgian to crash the ball past former Gladbach keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Missing injured talisman Lionel Messi, Barca struggled to create clear chances in the early stages of the second period but the game changed when coach Luis Enrique replaced Rakitic with Arda Turan on the hour.

Five minutes later, Neymar lifted a wonderful pass into space behind the defense and Arda raced through and crashed a shot high past Sommer from a tight angle.

Sommer error

It was not Sommer’s night and he was at fault for Barca’s second as the final fifteen minutes approached.

Neymar swung a corner to the edge of the Gladbach penalty area and when the Swiss keeper failed to gather a Suarez shot, central defender Gerard Pique was on hand to poke the ball over the line.

"Considering we were up against a team that had won their last 11 home games and put their opponents under a lot of pressure, we did very well," Luis Enrique told a news conference.

His Gladbach counterpart Andre Schubert added: "We played some exceptional football and put ourselves in several good attacking positions, but that’s the difference between a side like Barcelona and ourselves. They took their chances, we should have been a bit more ruthless in front of goal.”

Barcelona top the group on six points from two matches. Manchester City are second on four points after they drew 3-3 at Celtic, with the Scottish champions on one point in third and Gladbach on zero points in fourth.