Tottenham Hotspur lost 4-2 to Barcelona on Wednesday night.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi has been quoted by AS as saying that he thought Tottenham Hotspur were ‘lost’ in the early stages of their Champions League encounter.
Barca took an early lead as Hugo Lloris rashly came haring off his line to try and meet Jordi Alba, but he simply cut the ball back for Philippe Coutinho to rifle into an empty net.
Ernesto Valverde’s side were dominant early on, and made it 2-0 when Coutinho’s effort was saved but he hooked the ball back to the edge of the box for Ivan Rakitic to smash home a stunning second.
Smart work from Harry Kane saw him bring Spurs back into the game, only for Messi to make it 3-1, and after Erik Lamela’s deflected strike again gave Tottenham hope, Messi struck again to seal a 4-2 victory for Barca.
Barca have won two in two now, whereas Spurs have lost their first two group stage games, and now face an uphill battle to get out of the group and into the knockout stages.
It was a spirited fight from Spurs, but ultimately their terrible start left them with a mountain to climb, and Messi discussed that after the final whistle on Wednesday night.
Messi has been quoted by AS as saying that he thought Barca’s football was ‘fantastic’ and ‘extraordinary’, but did feel that Spurs were ‘lost’ in the first half.
“There were a lot of plays during the match that were fantastic, the first half was extraordinary,” said Messi. “We managed possession, we created situations and the opponent was lost. I do not remember exactly the third goal, but I think there were very good plays,” he added.
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