UEFA Champions League 2018/19: Messi's brace helps Barca breeze past Spurs at the Wembley
Another Champions League night, another high profile game. Barcelona vs Spurs. Many eyes on both the teams as fans expect a tough clash. Barcelona away from home, they have a history at the Wembley. But no one might have expected it to be a goal fest.
The game started at a high note, with Pochettino's side pressing high, trying to get the ball, and if you're playing against Barcelona, you don't want them having the ball for too long or it would be fatal.
It was the second minute when Spurs keeper Lloris hared off his line to stop Jordi Alba on his tracks, but the Spaniard gave a fine pass to Coutinho, who made no mistake to pass the ball to the back of the net with the goalkeeper nowhere to be seen.
Spurs were unable to keep a hold of the ball as Barcelona attacked as perfectly as they defended. Another goal came in the 28th minute, from a spectacular volley from Ivan Rakitic as the ball clips the post before going in. Spurs were two behind the La Liga Champions in the first 30 minutes as they headed into halftime with the same scoreline.
In the second half, Harry Kane pulled one back to give hope to the Spurs supporters. Spurs looked on track with relentless attacks, but then Messi stepped up and flicked the ball into the net from a fine low cross from Jordi Alba. Spurs were again behind by two goals.
In the 66th minute, Erik Lamela fired one home as they looked for another one to equalise, but Messi and Co. had something else in their minds. Messi flicked another fine goal past World Cup winner Hugo Lloris.
Barcelona repeated the win as they had won against Arsenal with the same scoreline. They had won the 2011's Champions League in the Wembley which makes it a historic place for them to come and play in.
It was a bad night for the French goalkeeper as he made a lot of mistakes on the pitch, but he was punished particularly for one, the first goal coming in within two minutes.
Pochettino was unhappy with Hugo Lloris's performance. Especially after seeing a lot of mistakes from the World Cup winner.
Poch said: “When you concede in less than two minutes, it changes everything completely. The emotion is tough when you are playing against Barcelona and players like Messi and Luis Suarez.
“If you watch football and understand it, you will know how hard it is to come out of the dressing room and find yourself 1-0 down so early. When you play at this level, you can’t concede these type of chances — and we paid for that in the end.”
Losing two games in the group stage is bad news for the Italian Coach, but they have to bounce back from those two defeats if they want to progress into the next stages of the Championship.