- Coutinho strikes early
- Rakitic makes it 2-0 with worldie
- Messi bags brace
- Kane, Lamela score for Spurs
Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Rakitic, and Lionel Messi all scored wonderful goals as Barcelona outclassed injury-hit Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 at Wembley Stadium in UEFA Champions League action on Wednesday.
Messi scored a second goal for Barca, bagging a 90th minute point-blank finish.
Harry Kane and Erik Lamela scored for Spurs, who were without Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, and Jan Vertonghen.
Barca goes to six points through two matches, while Spurs have zero.
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It took less than a minute-and-a-half for Barca to welcome Hugo Lloris back to the Spurs side, with the goalkeeper’s aggressive pursuit of Jordi Alba allowing the left back to find Coutinho with a cutback. The ex-Liverpool man scored from 18 yards.
Harry Kane forced Marc Andre ter Stegen into a 25th minute save when Spurs got their first strong effort on target.
But Rakitic put the game firmly in Barcelona’s camp with an exquisite piece of technique. Lionel Messi’s cross was chested down to Coutinho, whose blocked shot had the Brazilian scrambling to pass it back atop the 18. Rakitic leapt to volley the ball off the near post and into the goal. Beautiful.
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Spurs would’ve been grateful to get to the dressing room at half, and Messi underscored that by hitting the post for a second time once action resumed at Wembley.
Kane cooked Nelson Semedo with a 52nd minute cutback before curling around Ter Stegen to make it 2-1.
The enthusiasm was short-lived, because Messi did not hit the post with his next effort. The living Argentine legend started and finished a pretty play in the 56th minute, using a Luis Suarez dummy to line up a cute finish across goal.
It was 3-2 when Erik Lamela’s left-footed strike took a turn off Clement Lenglet to fool a diving Ter Stegen.
27 - Lionel Messi has scored more goals (21) and provided more assists (6) against English clubs in the Champions League than against sides from any other nation. Slay. pic.twitter.com/oV8KWr3nHV
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 3, 2018
Follow @NicholasMendola
