TOTTENHAM BEDAZZLED BY BARCA'S BRILLIANCE

Barcelona put up a splendid show on Wednesday as they thrashed Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley to romp to a 4-2 victory. Lionel Messi led Barcelona’s impressive show, scoring twice, while hitting the woodwork a couple of times. HT looks at how the game unfolded:

MESMERISING MESSI

The combination of Jordi Alba and Messi worked well with the former providing a number of low crosses from the left for Messi, who often created space for himself. While the Argentine neatly finished two such crosses to either side of Hugo Lloris for Barcelona’s third and fourth goals, he could have stretched the margin had two of his shots not hit the woodwork.

ATTACKING FLAIR

While Messi undoubtedly stole the show as Spurs defenders played catching up, the likes of Ivan Rakitic, Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suarez were equally threatening upfront. Suarez, who hasn’t scored an away goal in the Champions League since September 2015, played the dummy on both occasions as he deceived defenders with his quick movements while Messi found the back of the net.

MAN ON A MISSION

While Messi had declared at the start of the season that Barcelona, who’ve seen their bitter rivals Real Madrid clinch the Champions League three consecutive times now, are gunning for the European crown. He seems to have taken it upon himself to deliver the silverware.

In the two group games, Messi has now scored five goals from seven attempts on target.

VALVERDE’S CONUNDRUM

With Ousmane Dembele dropped, left-back Alba was able to freely play his preferred attacking role for the Catalan club.

Dembele’s work rate has often been criticised and given Alba’s ability to combine with Coutinho higher up the pitch, coach Valverde will have something to think about.