At Camp Nou, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique had to deal with the absence of their top-rated star Lionel Messi and instead of playing with a 4-4-2 formation; Enrique resorted to the traditional 4-3-3 with Rakitic, Busquets and Iniesta across the center. But Enrique’s one problem was goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who had already conceded 16 goals in seven appearances this season. Ter Stegen had conceded the same number of 16 goals during 21 outings last term. The Bundesliga side, Leverkusen were taking the field after the fantastic winning start on Match-Day 1, when they thrashed FC Bate Borisov 4-1. As the match began, Barcelona dominated the ball possession but couldn’t find the target. In the 22nd minute, Leverkusen were awarded a corner and Papadopoulos scored from a close-range header before ter Stegen and Luis Suarez could understand what was happening. Camp Nou lost its breath as Barcelona goalkeeper conceded another goal. Despite attempts from both sides, the halftime score read 1-0 in favor of the visitors.
In the 72nd minute, Ivan Rakitic was replaced by Sergi Roberto. 8 minutes later, the substitute showed his enterprise and brought the equalizer for Barcelona, when Jordi Alba’s cross was shot by Suarez but Leverkusen goalkeeper’s block fell in the path of Sergi Roberto. The 23-year old didn’t miss his chance as he slammed the ball into the goal from close range. Two minutes later, Barcelona went into the lead through Suarez, who capitalized on a brilliant pass by Munir El Haddadi and curled a fine strike into the goal from just inside the box. With eight minutes remaining from regulation time, Camp Nou erupted with wild celebrations. The match ended 2-1 in Barcelona’s favor.
Belarusian side BATE Borisov stunned AS Roma at Borisov arena by scoring three goals inside 30 minutes, including a double strike from Filip Mladenovic, who found the net in 12th and 30th minutes. Earlier, Igor Stasevich had put the hosts ahead from a rebound, which he headed home. Despite all efforts made by Roma in the match, they could only reduce the deficit by two goals as Bate went through 3-2. In Munich, Robert Lewandowski was in limelight once again for Bayern Munich, who crushed the Croatian Club GNK Dinamo Zagreb 5-0. Lewandowski struck thrice in 21st, 28th and 55th minutes and his brilliant hat-trick took his recent tally to 10 goals in just seven days. Other goals came from Douglas Costa in the 13th minute and Goetze in the 25th.
There was a setback for the English Premier League side Arsenal, who lost 2-3 to Greek Club Olympiacos on their home turf in London. The Greeks went in front in the 33rd minute but Arsenal equalized two minutes later. To Arsenal’s bad luck, their goalkeeper conceded an own goal in the 40th minute. Although Alexis Sanchez equalized in the 65th minute, Olympiacos took the 3-2 lead one minute later and the match ended at that score. Another EPL side Chelsea lost their away match 1-2 against FC Porto. In three other matches, Moscow’s Dynamo Kyiv scored a 2-0 away victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv; Valencia defeated Lyon 1-0 at Lyon and Russian Club Zenit defeated Belgium’s KAA gent 2-1.