Barcelona, missing the mercurial talent of the injured Lionel Messi, laboured to a 1-0 win in their Group H Champions League game against 10-man Celtic in Glasgow on Tuesday.
The only goal came after 76 minutes when Neymar swept the ball out to substitute Alexis Sanchez on the right and his back-post cross was headed home by the unmarked Cesc Fabregas.
By then Celtic were down to 10 men having had Scott Brown dismissed just before the hour mark for catching Neymar in the back with his boot after the Brazilian went down in a challenge.
The win gives Barcelona a maximum six points from two games and leaves Celtic still looking for their first point.
In London, meanwhile, Mesut Ozil bewitched Napoli to conjure up a 2-0 win for Arsenal and end the Italian side’s unbeaten start to the season.
The Germany midfielder scored the opening goal, his first for Arsenal, with a superb left-foot effort from the edge of the penalty area after eight minutes and set up Olivier Giroud for Arsenal’s second after 15.
Any lingering doubts that the former Real Madrid player was worth the 43 million pounds ($60 million) that Arsene Wenger paid for him in August were swept away in a magical first-half display of precision passing, great movement and feints, and Aaron Ramsey played his full part as the sorcerer’s apprentice.
Arsenal’s second win after their 2-1 success in Marseille put them on six points in Group F alongside Borussia Dortmund, who beat Marseille 3-0 on Tuesday. Arsenal and Dortmund meet in the next two rounds of games.
FULL TUESDAY CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS:
GROUP E
Basel 0-1 Schalke 04
Steaua Bucharest 0-4 Chelsea
GROUP F
Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Marseille
Arsenal 2-0 Napoli
GROUP G
Zenit St. Petersburg 0-0 Austria Vienna
Porto 1-2 Atletico Madrid
GROUP H
Ajax 1-1 Milan
Celtic 0-1 Barcelona
Source: Buenos Aires Herald