Messi’s hat-trick gets Barcelona off to dream start as Inter defeat Tottenham

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick as Barcelona began their Uefa Champions League campaign in impressive fashion last night with a 4-0 win over PSV Eindhoven in Group B.

Inter Milan were also victors in the same group as goals in the final five minutes from Mauro Icardi and Matias Vecino saw them come from behind to defeat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1

Both matches yesterday were part of a new scheme by Uefa to spread out their games on match weeks and have some kicking-off earlier.

Notably both Camp Nou in Barcelona and the San Siro in Milan had empty seats in their respective stadiums for the games, which kicked off at 8.55pm UAE time.

But those in attendance in Barcelona saw Messi take centre stage as he struck three times to start his bid to win the competition for a fifth time with the Primera Liga champions in style.

Barcelona were held back by the PSV defence until the 31st minute, but Messi ensured the wait for the opening goal was worth it.

His 25-yard free-kick gave PSV goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet no chance as he found the top corner for the first goal of this season’s group stages. Barcelona dominated from then on and PSV rode their luck as Luis Suarez hit the woodwork with a looping effort.

But the second goal did come with 16 minutes to go as Ousmane Dembele made space for himself outside the area and he curled the ball past Zoet from the edge of the area.

Messi then got on the end of a clipped ball over the top by Croatian Ivan Rakitic to slot home the third.

Despite Barcelona ending the game with 10 men after Samuel Umtiti was sent off for a second bookable offence, Messi still added his third to cap another memorable night.

He ran on to a flicked pass from Suarez to fire the ball past Zoet into the corner of the net. Meanwhile in Italy, there was more misery for Tottenham as they slipped to their third defeat in a row in all competitions.

Christian Eriksen’s second-half strike had looked as if it was going to give Tottenham, who reached the last 16 stages of the competition in the 2017/18 season. the win in Milan.

But Icardi’s spectacular volley levelled things with five minutes remaining and then, in the second minute of stoppage time, Vecino rifled the ball home from close range to give the Italians all three points.