The Champions League anthem sounded across Europe on Wednesday. On the London side, Tottenham welcomed FC Barcelona for one of the shocks of the second day of C1. Beaten at the end of the match by Inter Milan two weeks ago (1-2), the Spurs had no choice but to make a result to stay alive in Group B. But Mauricio Pochettino had to deal with several absences. Indeed, Jan Vertonghen, Serge Aurier, Christian Eriksen, Delle Alli or Moussa Dembélé were packages. On the other hand, Hugo Lloris, back from injury, was well present in the starting eleven. An 11 in 4-2-3-1 with Harry Kane in the lead. For his part, Ernesto Valverde, although deprived of Samuel Umtiti (wounded and suspended), opted for a 4-3-3 system with an offensive trio Messi-Coutinho-Luis Suarez. Ousmane Dembélé started on the bench, unlike Clément Lenglet, who lined up at the entrance.
From the outset, FC Barcelona set the tone for the match. Lionel Messi threw Jordi Alba thanks to a nice opening in the back of the opposing defense. The latter stared at Hugo Lloris, who came out to meet him, and then served Courtinho in retreat. The Brazilian didn’t tremble and found the shot of an unstoppable dry shot (0-1, 2e). But the British did not bow their heads and put intensity into the duels. Under the leadership of Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura, Tottenham tried his luck offensively. But they fished all the time in the last gesture or the last pass often embarrassed by the good pressing of the Catalans. Catalans well helped by Ter Stegen, who was lying well after a shot from Kane at 30 meters (26′). The Spurs let their chance pass because behind Barça doubled the bet. Messi found Luis Suarez with a bullet. The latter found Coutinho serving Rakitic behind. The Croat placed a magnificent half-volley that ended at the bottom of the cages of Lloris (0-2, 27′).
Messi on fire next to barcelona
On fire in front with an untenable Messi and in all good shots, the FCB also held good behind. After a roundabout shot from Lamela, Ter Stegen pulled out a winning reflex stop on his line (32′). The score didn’t move until the break. The ordeal started again in the second half for Tottenham. Lionel Messi left in his works and had fun with the Spurs before placing a left strike that ended on the post (47′). Three minutes later, the Pulga did almost the same thing starting from the right and again he went through the English before pulling on the post of Lloris. In the aftermath, Tottenham left on the other hand. Lamela was throwing Kane to the left. The British goalscorer chained a feint and then crochet to take the best on Semedo before finding the way of the nets of a right shot (1-2, 51′).
But the joy was going to be short-lived for Lucas ‘ teammates. At the beginning of the action, Messi moved Alba, who was sending a center. Luis Suarez made it look like Messi was finally cheating on Lloris (1-3, 56e). But the evening was far from over. Erik Lamela, took advantage of a slackening in the Catalan defence to deceive Ter Stegen (2-3, 66′). The ball went from one side to the other without time-out. Messi was close to scoring again after a risky outing by Lloris, not helped by his defense tonight. This was not the case for Barça, who could count on a very vigilant Lenglet, notably on a beautiful slalom of Lucas Moura in the surface (86′). The English were pushing and putting pressure on the Spanish goal. But that was not enough and Barça was imposed 4 to 2 thanks to a last stroke of genius of Lionel Messi.
A second victory in the Champions League for Barça, who shares first place in the group with Inter Milan. In fact, the Nerazzurri have won 2 to 1 on the grass of the PSV Eindhoven. Another shock of the Champions League night was Naples-Liverpool. Opponents of Paris Saint-Germain, which had bombed Belgrade’s Red Star (6-1) a few hours earlier, the two teams hoped to win in this group C raised. The Italians were the first to highlight with Badge (11th). Liverpool, on the other hand, was struggling to exist. And to make matters worse, the Reds quickly lost Naby Keita, who was wounded and replaced by Henderson (19’). The Italians were over an English team that was having trouble putting their game together. And while we thought we were heading for a draw, despite Napoli’s superiority, badge found the 90th (1-0). In the other results of the evening, we can remember the defeat of Monaco in Dortmund (3-0) or the victory of Atlético de Madrid against Club Bruges with a double of Antoine Griezmann (3-1).