Barcelona vs. Bayer Leverkusen: Score, Reaction from 2015 Champions League Match

Barcelona left it late as they came from behind to beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 at the Camp Nou in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos opened the scoring midway through the first half as he capitalised on some slack defending from the hosts, but a late quickfire double from Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez denied the spirited Bundesliga outfit a point.

Barca were well below their usual standard for much of the match and have not kept a clean sheet in six fixtures but claimed the all-important victory.

The Blaugrana began with Sandro Ramirez in place of the injured Lionel Messi, while Javier Hernandez led the line for Leverkusen.

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

The former Manchester United striker almost made an immediate impact in the match as he forced a smart save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen inside two minutes. At the other end, Ter Stegen's compatriot Bernd Leno was also called into action early on as Ivan Rakitic tested him from a Neymar cross.

Hernandez and Kevin Kampl caused Barca's back line all manner of problems in the early stages as Bayer impressed, and the visitors were rewarded for their early pressure after 22 minutes when Papadopolous nodded home a corner unchallenged from just two yards out.

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Spanish football expert Sergi Dominguez had some strong words for Jeremy Mathieu, who failed to even jump with the Greek:

Bayer almost doubled their tally through Karim Bellarabi, but Ter Stegen was once again on hand to make the save.

The German stopper was one of the few highlights in a disappointing half for the hosts, with Dominguez and football journalist Dermot Corrigan remarking on his exceptional distribution:

Meanwhile, Sandro demonstrated just why Barca will miss the talismanic Messi so much, failing to capitalise on a one-on-one with Leno and then missing a golden opportunity to equalise on the rebound after Neymar struck the post, albeit the latter required a stunning goal-line block from Papadopolous.

The home side were extremely fortunate not to concede immediately after the restart when Bellarabi found Hernandez unmarked, but the Mexican international could only blast the ball over from close range.

Barca boss Luis Enrique threw on Roberto and Munir El Haddadi as his side struggled to muster up an equaliser and was rewarded for his substitutions as both played key roles in the dramatic turnaround.

With 10 minutes of normal time remaining, Munir latched on to Jordi Alba's cross to draw a save from Leno, but Roberto was on hand to turn home the rebound.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Less than two minutes later, Munir wriggled his way past three defenders down the right before expertly feeding Suarez with a neat pull-back, and the Uruguayan produced an outstanding first-time finish into the top corner.

Dominguez hailed the impact of the two substitutes:

Sandro did little to prove he can fill Messi's boots, but Munir and Roberto staked claims for a place in the side with their phenomenal impact from the bench, so expect to see plenty of them in action over the coming weeks.

Like any team would, even Barca are missing the Argentinian superstar and lacked their typical potency up front for much of the game. However, they still have an outstanding wealth of attacking quality available to them, so they should have little problem in winning their group without him.

Post-Match Reaction

According to BBC Sport, Andres Iniesta's exit on the hour-mark was due to a hamstring injury. Per the report, Enrique bemoaned the injury but praised his side for coping without Messi.

He said: "These are thorns in our side we have to shake off. It was a tough night—the second game without our best player and our second win. My players deserve a huge amount of credit."