Tottenham vs Barcelona: Lionel Messi finds new starring role as Spurs fail to make home advantage count
Five things we learned as Barcelona beat Tottenham 4-2 at Wembley
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Tottenham gave it everything they could after going two goals down against Barcelona, but the Spanish champions, led by Lionel Messi, were too good for Mauricio Pochettino's side.
Harry Kane and Erik Lamela gave Spurs the basis to launch a comeback after Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic handed Barcelona a deserved lead in the first half. Messi scored between Spurs' strikes and added another in the 90th minute to consign Tottenham to their second group stage defeat.
Here's five things we learned from Wembley.
1. Lionel Messi discovers a new niche
It’s been coming for some time in his career at Barcelona, but Messi has found a new role for Barcelona as a deep-lying forward. He’s master playing on either wing and as a central forward, but now he has conquered playing as a No 10.
Andreas Iniesta’s absence was hardly felt by Barcelona as Messi pulled the strings from deep and found intricate passes only he could see. His pass to draw Lloris towards Alba in the second minute is worth watching over Coutinho’s finish itself, and was just one of a night filled with highlight-reel passes.
He added a goal in the second half to cap off a well-worked move and found space after Luis Suarez and Coutinho left the ball for his to slot it into the bottom corner.
2. Hugo Lloris excludes himself from elite club
It has become integral for modern goalkeepers to be good with their feet and decision making, although perhaps David De Gea is the rare exception to this, and Hugo Lloris was beginning to show he is part of a unique group of goalkeepers that can save well in addition be being very useful with the ball and playing as a ‘sweeper’.
After removing his early erraticism when he first joined Tottenham, Lloris is showing signs he may not be as good with his decision making as we first thought. His mistake in the World Cup final, where he was caught in possession in front of goal and let Mario Mandzukic score, set the tone for a poor start to the season.
With just two minutes on the clock at Wembley, Lloris opted to rush out and attempted to intercept Messi’s pass from deep or meet Jordi Alba and prevent the danger. He did neither and Alba was able to square the ball to Coutinho and he fired into a vacant net. It was never Lloris’ pass to intercept and he single-handily gave Barcelona a dream start.
3. Tottenham fail to make home advantage count
What a night this could have been. What a way to introduce your new stadium to the Champions League. What a shame this was not the case.
Instead of playing at their new stadium, with an energetic and vibrant crowd, it was another unwanted game at Wembley, on a pitch that was still recovering from staging Anthony Joshua’s boxing match against Alexander Povetkin almost two weeks ago. There was a large square of dead grass in the middle of the pitch, not that it hindered Barcelona’s midfield.
What cost Spurs more was the flat atmosphere. Coutinho’s goal in the second minute flattened a large ‘home’ crowd and there was little sign of the supporters inspiring a comeback on the pitch in the way they might be able to in the new stadium.
4. Did Pochettino get it wrong in midfield
Pochettino absolutely hates answering questions about his team selection, he doesn’t understand why he feels he has to justify the selection of players he know better than most. But even he might be questioning himself over his midfield choices.
Eric Dier was dropped in favour of Victor Wanyama, who joined Harry Winks in a less-than formidable midfield, which was easily exposed by Barcelona. Erik Lamela, Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura were determined to keep close to Harry Kane, but this all left Tottenham short in midfield.
Winks’ performance on the ball was nothing like his dazzling display in the two Real Madrid group matches last year and Victor Wanyama failed to physically impose himself on the Barcelona forwards. Dier eventually came on just short of the hour mark and Tottenham looked like a much better side, but it was too little too late.
5. Tottenham face fight to qualify
With Barcelona beating Tottenham and Inter Milan winning 2-1 against PSV Eindhoven in the other Group B match, Spurs already face an uphill battle to quality from their group.
Tottenham are six points shy of the group leaders and may have to rely on Inter Milan and Barcelona tripping up if they are to advance into the round of 16.
What may be a little more disheartening is the fact that they’ve not actually played too badly in these opening games. The Champions League is an unforgiving competition which can be won or lost in a matter of minutes, just look at Tottenham’s defeat in the last 16 against Juventus last season. Perhaps it’s a mind-set that needs shifting.
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