Messi back at Wembley looking to make up for lost time
BARCELONA, Oct 2, (AFP): As Lionel Messi lay on the Wembley grass, his left hand grasping the Champions League trophy and his right pumping the air, he must have thought there would be many more European glory nights to come.
It was 2011 and Barca had beaten Manchester United 3-1. “No one has given us a hiding like that,” Alex Ferguson said.
They were so much better than the rest that many predicted a decade of European dominance after that mesmerising display. “We have a challenge with Barcelona, we all do,” Ferguson said.
Messi had scored his side’s second. Barcelona bounced in front of the photographers, the club’s name carved into the trophy for a fourth time.
For the 23-year-old Messi at the front, it was a third Champions League triumph in six years.
But there has been only one in the seven seasons since, when Luis Enrique led his 2015 Barca to a brilliant treble.
To make matters worse, arch-rivals Real Madrid have been crowned European champions four times and three times in a row since 2016.
“They have made history and it’s a thorn in our side,” Luis Suarez said.
Messi returns to Wembley to face Tottenham on Wednesday with happy memories but all of this weighing on his shoulders.
For most players, four Champions League titles is unthinkable but for Messi, playing through this era of Barcelona, it feels light.
“It’s time we won the Champions League,” Messi told Catalunya Radio last month.
The club feel it too. Winning La Liga has become more routine than remarkable.
Even last season’s double barely laid a finger on the disappointment of a third straight quarter-final exit, following a collapse at Roma when the Italian side overturned Barca’s 4-1 first leg lead.
Barca’s defence, the platform of their domestic success last season, is shaking, with fingers pointing at Gerard Pique whose mistakes have become too frequent to be ignored.
Barca clash has special meaning for Spurs boss Pochettino In dire need of a famous victory to revive his team’s Champions League campaign, Mauricio Pochettino will draw on the memory of the most cherished success of his career when Tottenham host Barcelona. Pochettino’s side can ill afford a damaging defeat against the Spanish champions after conceding two late goals to lose their opening Group B match 2-1 at Inter Milan.
A loss against Lionel Messi and company at Wembley would leave Tottenham facing a tough task qualifying for the knockout stages in their remaining four games.
It is a perilous situation that leads Tottenham boss Pochettino to recall the day his Espanyol team upset the odds in the Barcelona derby to start his journey to managerial stardom.
Pochettino’s three years in charge of Espanyol came after he spent nine years with the club, in two spells as a player.
That time in the trenches made Pochettino a favourite son of Espanyol’s fans, giving the Argentine a special affinity for the rivalry with Barca.
Given Barcelona’s history and financial might in contrast to the less glamorous Espanyol, it is little surprise Pochettino found it tough to get the better of the superpower from the other side of town.
In nine local derbies against Barca, Pochettino’s team managed only one win, with five defeats and three draws.
But that lone success remains a touchstone moment for Pochettino.
Back in February 2009, Pochettino secured the first win of his managerial career in the most unlikely circumstances as lowly penalties from Tottenham.
The 46-year-old believes taking charge at the Camp Nou would be a betrayal of the deep roots he planted during his time in Catalonia.
“It motivates me being a periquito (Espanyol’s nickname) and living so many years in Barcelona,” he said in quotes reported by Marca this week.
Tottenham haven’t been at their best so far this term, but neither have Barca, with Ernesto Valverde’s side failing to win any of their last three league games.
They did start their European challenge with a 4-0 drubbing of PSV Eindhoven however and Pochettino admits the long ball style played by Huddersfield at the weekend wasn’t the best preparation for facing smooth-passing Barca.
“We are the third or the second team in the Premier League with most possession, but this was a different game,” Pochettino France’s World Cup winning captain Hugo Lloris offered Pochettino a little ray of sunshine amid an injury crisis on the eve of their Champions League clash with Barcelona.
Lloris returned to training having recovered from a thigh injury, that has seen him on the sidelines since the end of August, but Belgian duo Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele, and Danish star Christian Eriksen have been ruled out of the game because of hamstring, thigh and abdomen injuries respectively.
England midfielder Dele Alli and Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier are also unavailable because of hamstring and thigh problems.