Barcelona hit Roma for six as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez grab doubles

Barcelona 6 Roma 1

Luis Suarez hit a brace and set up a double for Lionel Messi in his first start after injury as Barcelona crushed AS Roma 6-1 at the Camp Nou.

The win ensured Barca go through to the last 16 in first place in Group E with 13 points from five games, eight ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and Roma with BATE Borisov on four.

Barcelona are in the last 16 for the 12th consecutive season following another blistering attacking display that comes hot on the back of their 4-0 destruction of Real Madrid in La Liga last Saturday.

Gerard Pique and Adriano also scored for Barcelona with Roma striker Edin Dzeko, who had a penalty saved, netting a consolation goal in stoppage time.

“Each player goes out to try and do what is asked of him. We played a perfect game,” Suarez told reporters.

“Leo, Neymar and myself are team players and we look to help the team. Messi is the best in the world and I am very happy for him to have scored and played the full match.”

Suarez walked the ball home following a slick team move after 15 minutes and then just three minutes later Barca cut through the Roma defence again.

Following a breathtaking 27 passes, Suarez found Messi who lifted the ball over goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny from the left of the area.

Suarez cracked a fine volley from the edge of the area a minute before half-time and after the restart Messi squared for Pique to slot the ball home.

Messi completed his double having been found by Suarez and while Szczesny blocked his first shot he bundled in the rebound after 60 minutes.

Szczesny saved a Neymar penalty after he was fouled by Salih Ucan but Adriano fired in the loose ball after 77 minutes.

A Dzeko penalty was saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen after he was fouled by Thomas Vermaelen before the Bosnian striker finally found the net in the dying seconds.

Messi, starting his first match since a knee ligament injury at the end of September, showed his appetite with a drive that was clawed away by Szczesny and a shot narrowly wide having been put through Sergio Busquets inside nine minutes.

Roma were missing the pace of Gervinho and Mohamed Salah going forward but Dzeko missed an excellent chance when he headed over from a corner before Barca made the breakthrough.

Bayern Munich 4 Olympiakos 0

Ten-man Bayern Munich eased into the Champions League knockout stages after demolishing Greece’s Olympiakos 4-0 on Tuesday to secure top spot in Group F with a game to spare.

The German champions, who had Holger Badstuber sent off early in the second half with a straight red card, were unstoppable in the opening 20 minutes, scoring three times to put the game to bed early.

Douglas Costa struck after eight minutes, Robert Lewandowski doubled the lead after 16 minutes with Thomas Müller adding another four minutes later as dazed Olympiakos found no answer to the continuous attacks.

Kingsley Coman headed in Bayern’s fourth goal in the 70th minute as Bayern moved up to 12 points in the group ahead of their final game at Dinamo Zagreb on December 9th. Olympiakos, in second place on nine, now need a point against Arsenal to secure a spot in the last 16.

FC Porto 0 Dynamo Kiev 2

A blunder by Iker Casillas helped Dynamo Kiev seal a 2-0 win away to Porto in the which threw Group G wide open and left the hosts in danger of missing out on the knockout stage.

Andriy Yarmolenko put the Ukrainian champions ahead with a first-half penalty before the former Real Madrid goalkeeper completely misjudged a weak Derlis Gonzalez shot in the 64th minute.

The Paraguayan forward, under pressure and being forced wide by Giannelli Imbula, managed to get in a seemingly harmless shot which Casillas tried to punch away with one hand, only to see the ball loop into the air and land in the net.

Porto, previously unbeaten in all competitions this season, had needed only a draw to qualify with a game to spare but are now in danger of missing out as they visit Chelsea in their final game probably needing to win.

Porto have 10 points from five games, the same as Chelsea after their 4-0 win away to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Kiev have eight, with a final game at home to the eliminated and demoralised Israelis to come.

Zenit St Petersburg 2 Valencia 0

Zenit St Petersburg secured first place in Group H with a 2-0 success over Valencia for a fifth straight win to extend their perfect record in this season's competition with one round remaining.

Oleg Shatov put the hosts in front with a composed finish after 15 minutes, while in-form Artem Dzyuba sealed the points in the 74th to give Andre Villas-Boas's team a deserved victory and top spot in a Champions League group for the first time.

Valencia's evening turned from bad to worse with 10 minutes left as they were reduced to 10 men when Ruben Vezo was sent off for bringing down Shatov who was clean through on goal.

Lyon 1 Gent 2

Lyon were eliminated from all European competitions when Kalifa Coulibaly's last-gasp goal gave Gent a 2-1 win at the Stade de Gerland.

Malian international Coulibaly headed home five minutes into injury time after Jordan Ferri’s early opener for Lyon had been cancelled out by Danijel Milicevic in the first half of a lively game.

Lyon are last in Group H with just one point and cannot now qualify for the Europa League as they lie five points adrift of third-placed Valencia