Barca firmly on course without Messi

– Barcelona came through their first test without the injured Lionel Messi, earning a convincing 2-0 win at home to Inter Milan to take control of Champions League Group B on Wednesday.

Midfielder Rafinha (right) opened the scoring against the club where he spent the latter half of last season, bursting through the middle and finding Luis Suarez, then turning the Uruguayan’s cross in on the volley in the 32nd minute.

Leftback Jordi Alba killed off Inter’s resistance late in the second half with a thumping low finish, ending the Italian side’s winning streak of seven games in all

Barcelona

competitions and sealing a third straight win in the Champions League.

Barca top Group B with nine points while Inter are second on six, with PSV Eindhoven and Tottenham Hotspur on a point each.

A victory for the Catalans away to Inter at the San Siro in two weeks’ time will seal their place in the last-16 of Europe’s elite competition, in which they have underachieved since lifting the trophy in 2015.

“We still miss Messi but we wanted to miss him while winning. We had a great opponent and we prevented them from playing,” coach Ernesto Valverde said. – Reuters