TOTTENHAM...2 BARCELONA ..... 4
Messi weaves his magic to slam the door after Kane strike raises comeback hopes
THE good news is, another 82,137 got to see Lionel Messi. They might not have felt that way as they trooped away from Wembley Stadium. They might have been cursing him for what he did to their team.
Yet time is a healer. And with time they will know what a privilege it was to see the man on what may be his last visit to the capital. Who knows how much longer he has got, or where the draw will take him. This could be it for Messi in London. And if it is, what a way to go out.
He was the difference, as he so often it on nights like this. Had he been in a white shirt, Tottenham would have won. His passing made Barcelona’s first two goals, his wit and imagination secured the winner. He played a one-two, but not a conventional one-two, over a short distance. He found Jordi Alba on the flank from the heart of midfield, saw what was on and began running for the return.
He arrived late and somehow alone. Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho sensed his presence and did not interfere. Messi met Alba’s cutback and passed it into the net. It was a thing of wonder. And 82,137 can say they were there when it happened.
It was also highly necessary. Soon after Son Hueng-min fed Erik Lamela, whose shot clipped Sergio Busquets, and eluded Marc-Andre ter Stegen in Barcelona’s goal.
There was just a single score in it for the last 25 minutes until Messi intervened again. Is it possible to have an assist without touching the ball? In which case, credit Suarez, whose dummy was as good as any pass you will see all season, allowing Messi to go one on one with Hugo Lloris, a mismatch that could not have been any greater had the Argentinian been put in the ring with Anthony Joshua here two weeks ago.
Yes, Barcelona had been the better side but Tottenham had clung to their coat-tails. Shorn of Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen in the forward line, this was a huge achievement. Two goals down at half-time, Spurs could have been swept aside. Yet while there is no shame in defeat, Tottenham have their work cut out from here. Two games, nil points, is a climb with a trip to Nou Camp and a home tie against Inter Milan to come.
It is far from over if Tottenham can win home and away against PSV Eindhoven, but there is very little wriggle room. Certainly, they must start better in Holland next time out than they did here.
Considering Tottenham shipped two goals in the last 10 minutes of their previous Champions League match, including injury time, to concede again within the first two minutes here was the stuff of nightmares. Mauricio Pochettino’s final instructions against a team of Barcelona’s prowess would have been to keep the match tight early on. Tottenham, by contrast, were looser than a charity shop polo neck. It doesn’t help, of course, that Barcelona start a game perfectly on point, ready to inflict damage from the moment it begins.
Ivan Rakitic collected the ball in midfield and fed Messi. Tottenham were in trouble from that moment. His pass out to Jordi Alba was quite magnificent — no need to ease into the game here — and suddenly Barcelona were into Tottenham’s back four.
What happened next, however, was sheer lunacy. Lloris came tearing from his goal, too late to thwart the attack but too early to allow the defenders around him to regroup and protect the call. To make matters worse, Lloris then slipped and fell, as did Davinson Sanchez, who was struggling to cover the holes in the middle.
Alba cut the ball back to Coutinho, whose finish showed why mistakes against Barcelona invariably prove fatal. He made it look easy, the former Liverpool man, but it wasn’t. He didn’t have much of the goal to aim at as players scrambled frantically to close his space, but he found the gap with stunning precision. First time, straight in, one-nil. There were 92 seconds on the clock — Barcelona’s quickest goal in Europe since 2005.
By half-time the lead had doubled. Again, it was brilliant work from Barcelona, sloppy from Tottenham, and a heavy price was paid. The Alba-Messi combination proved fruitful once more, the full-back putting his team-mate in this time and his cross seeking out Suarez in the middle. It didn’t reach but Coutinho got a touch, and looked to have put the ball out of play.
This was where Tottenham were the architects of their downfall for a second time. Pochettino’s players stopped, Coutinho didn’t. He scrambled after the ball and retrieved it by kicking it hopefully back into play. It fell, fortuitously, to Rakitic — but there was no luck in his finish, on the volley, in off the post, screaming past Lloris.
All it would have needed was one Tottenham man keeping pace with Coutinho and the worst would have been a corner. Instead, Barcelona were building an unassailable lead.
It could have been a lot worse. In the 30th minute, Messi put Suarez through and he shot just wide, while a Messi shot was deflected high six minutes later, catching Lloris out, the goalkeeper fortunate not to drop it over the line.
The second half started with much the same impetus. Within minutes Messi broke clear and his shot struck Lloris’s near post. Then he cut in from the right and did it again. Same low shot, even the same post. Tottenham could have been done — instead, from their next attack, they were back in the game.
It was brilliant work from Harry Kane, who had until that point worked hard to little effect. He collected the ball on the edge of the area, took it wide to get the angle, left Jordi Alba on his backside as he went, then turned and shot across Ter Stegen for a goal that revived momentum, and dignity. There hadn’t been much of either in the first half, with Barcelona in control.
In the 25th minute, a long ball up from Kieran Trippier was headed down by Son Hueng-min for a Kane shot from 25 yards that was well saved.
Seven minutes later, Kane fed Lamela, whose cross caught a deflection off Jordi Alba and was kept out acrobatically by Ter Stegen’s left hand. Yet this was a long way from the wonderful performance against Real Madrid in this competition 11 months ago.
Indeed, Tottenham also caught a break from German referee Felix Zwayer.
While the locals seethed at what they perceived as Barcelona’s propensity to tumble — only Jordi Alba looked guilty of it on one occasion, to be fair — it was Victor Wanyama who got away with most. A foul on Messi early on was
certainly worthy of a booking, but got nothing, meaning the booking he received for fouling the same player on 41 minutes could have been a red. Down to 10, Tottenham would have stood no chance. Eleven was hard enough.