Mochengladbach (Germany), Sep 29 (IANS) FC Barcelona struggled for much of their match against a tough Borussia Monchengladbach, but the Spanish football champions managed to turn the tide over a nine-minute span of the second half to grab a 2-1 victory.
Head coach Luis Enrique deserves much of the credit for the turnaround here on Wednesday, as his decision to insert Rafinha for Paco Alcacer and Arda Turan for Ivan Rakitic early in the second half shifted the momentum decisively, reports Efe.
Forced to make do without injured superstar Lionel Messi at Borussia-Park here, Barcelona slotted Neymar into the role of attacking midfielder and charged him with orchestrating plays for Suarez and Alcacer. But Barcelona lacked its usual fluidity in the first half and failed to capitalise on the chances it did create.
That opened the door for the German squad, which took advantage of an error by midfielder Sergio Busquets to mount an attacking foray that Belgian Thorgan Hazard finished off in the 34th minute.
The match turned quickly, however, at the start of the second half when Luis Enrique adjusted his line-up and Brazilian midfielder Rafael, the host squad's best player to that point, departed with an injury.
Shortly after taking the field, Turan scored the equaliser in the 65th minute. Then in the 74th minute, defender Gerard Pique scored the game-winner when he pounced on a ball that Borussia goalkeeper Yann Sommer had deflected.
"We knew how tough this opponent was. They're very dangerous on the counterattack, but I think we played a great game. In the first half, they scored a goal in the only chance they had. We had four chances that we didn't convert. In the second half, we played much better," Pique said after the match.
With Barcelona winning and Manchester City settling for a 3-3 draw against Celtic in Glasgow, the Spanish powerhouse is now at the top spot in Group C.
In other action on Wednesday, Atletico Madrid moved to the top of Group D with a 1-0 victory in its clash of titans against Bayern Munich, with Belgium's Yannick Ferreira Carrasco scoring the lone goal midway through the first half at Vicente Calderon Stadium.
In Group A, Paris Saint-Germain routed Ludogorets Razgrad 3-1 and Arsenal defeated Basel 2-0, while in Group B Besiktas and Dynamo Kiev played to a 1-1 draw and Napoli topped Benfica 4-2.
A Group D match between Rostov and PSV Eindhoven ended in a 2-2 draw.
--IANS
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