A Non-Messi Barcelona Still Has a Clean Champions League Record

After losing Lionel Messi, Barcelona were supposed to be handicapped.

But no.

Barça roared back strongly against Bayern Leverkusen to take a 2-1 decision in the Champions League.

The Catalan side relies heavily on Messi, but their defense has nothing to do with him, does it?

This is what they call sleeping with their eyes open. And that works for Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

Still, Barcelona are the defending champions. It's not that easy to contain them, and in the 80th minute, Sergi Roberto struck:

The 'keeper should've rubbed some glue on his gloves to save that one.

When Messi is absent, there remain plenty of others who are accustomed to the spotlight.

One, of course, is the footballing vampire, Luis Suárez:

When his teeth are at rest, his feet do all the talking, and how well they speak.

Barcelona stole it late against the the German stalwarts, and that's what makes champions tick.