Tottenham Hotspur host Barcelona in the Champions League in midweek.
Tottenham Hotspur received a potential lift ahead of their Champions League clash with Barcelona after the Catalans’ plan to rest Lionel Messi against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday backfired.
As Spurs cruised to a 2-0 win over Premier League strugglers Huddersfield Town in Yorkshire, Barcelona came up against quite a different prospect in Athletic Bilbao at the Nou Camp, as they were held to a 1-1 draw.
Barca boss Ernesto Valverde reacted to his side’s shock 2-1 midweek defeat at Leganes by resting both Sergio Busquets and star man Messi, with one eye on their upcoming match with Tottenham.
With so many games in short succession it made sense to rotate the squad, but Barca’s hopes of recording a comfortable win over Bilbao with a somewhat weaker starting XI was hindered by a poor first-half. The visitors deservedly took the lead before the break, which forced Valverde to make two changes early in the second period. And one of the changes was the introduction of Messi for the faltering Arturo Vidal.
It made sense to rest 31-year-old Messi in order to have him in the best physical shape possible after a tight schedule, which included five games in two weeks. But the Argentine superstar had to come off the bench to help rescue his side a point. Messi applied the assist for Munir’s late equaliser, and the draw extended Barca’s poor run of form which has seen them go three La Liga games without victory for the first time under Valverde’s tenure.
The Catalans head to Wembley with confidence their knocked. Barcelona has a defence which has conceded five goals in their last three games and which is physically not at their peak – giving Tottenham a real chance of causing an upset.
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