Spurs have no answer to ‘fantastic’ masterclass from Messi

TOTTENHAM: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Davies, Wanyama (Dier 57), Winks, Lamela (Llorente 79), Lucas, Son (Sissoko 66), Kane.

Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Rose, Walker-Peters, Skipp.

BARCELONA: Ter Stegen, N Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Arthur (Vidal 87), Busquets (Vermaelen 90), Rakitic, Coutinho (Rafinha 83), L Suarez, Messi. Subs not used: Cillessen, D Suarez, Dembele, El Haddadi.

Man of the match: Messi

Match rating: 8/10

Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany) LIONEL Messi tormented Tottenham as Barcelona inflicted a Champions League blow on their hosts with a 4-2 win at Wembley.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs were rocked by stunning goals from Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Rakitic and two from the irrepressible Messi.

Harry Kane, and then Erik Lamela, briefly gave the hosts a chance of taking something from the match by cutting the deficit to one goal.

But Messi’s second in the last minute put paid to that, meaning the late collapse at Inter Milan now looks even more costly for Tottenham, who have no points from their opening two matches in Group B.

Pochettino said: “It was a tough game. When you concede in less than two minutes, it changes completely everything. The emotion becomes tough when you are playing against Barcelona and players like Messi and Suarez.

“That is why I want to congratulate the team, because we were always on the game, always fighting, never giving up. I feel so proud. I’m disappointed with the result but the effort was massive.

“But against a team like Barcelona, this type of game when you play at that level, to give that advantage to a team like Barcelona is so difficult to come back from.

“The most important thing was our character.

“Messi a fantastic player. The most important thing is why Lionel Messi in every game shows why he is Messi.

“His average performance is this type of game, above everything else.”

Tottenham defender Kieran Trippier acknowledged Messi put on a sparkling show.

“These are the games you want to be involved in. You dream of playing in games like this and especially against players like Messi,” the right-back said.

“He was unbelievable in the game. We all know the quality of a player that he is and sometimes it’s magic to watch.”

He referenced Messi having been close to scoring two more, and said conceding the early opener had been a major blow to Tottenham’s plans.

“All the boys were looking forward before, and to go 1-0 down, it’s difficult against a side like this,” Trippier said. “The boys gave everything out there and the second half I thought was much better.”

He defended Hugo Lloris, whose dash from his line proved costly for Coutinho’s goal.

“It was his decision to come out and try to go for the ball. We’ll defend him 100 per cent,” Trippier said.

The England international added: “We just keep on going. Barcelona were the better team on the night. We’ve got to take positives out of the game. We’ll recover and reflect on the game and see where we went wrong.”

On Lloris, Pochettino said: “(We made) a few mistakes, that is clear. When you make a mistake at this level you concede a goal. I’m disappointed for that but we needed to keep going.”

This was supposed to be a good time to play Barcelona, the Spanish champions having not won in three La Liga matches, including a shock defeat by bottom club Leganes.

They were certainly vulnerable at the back, but going forward they remain an awesome force, as they proved by racing into the lead inside two minutes.

In one fluid movement on the halfway line, Messi stepped away from Son Heung-min and clipped a superb crossfield pass to Jordi Alba.

Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris did not exactly cover himself in glory upon his return to the side, opting to come charging out of his goal even though Alba was al-