Lionel Messi masterclass and Arthur breakthrough hand Barcelona impressive Tottenham win

Andy West 01:47 04/10/2018
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  • Barcelona delivered an occasionally dazzling display to defeat Tottenham and maintain their 100-per-cent record in the Champions League, with Lionel Messi scoring twice in a 4-2 win at Wembley.

    The home team were somehow still alive until stoppage time when Messi completed the scoring. But there was no doubting the superiority of the Spaniards, for whom Ivan Rakitic struck a stupendous second-half volley, whose progress to the knockout stages now looks close to assured.

    In contrast, Spurs have now lost both Group B-matches and need an instant recovery in the imminent double header with pointless PSV Eindhoven.

    Here, we pick out three main talking points to arise from the game.

    BARCA ENJOY WEMBLEY’S WIDE-OPEN SPACES

    If you give plenty of space to Barcelona to play in midfield, you will die.

    That’s a pretty simple lesson and one that many teams have learned in the past, so it’s very surprising that Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino allowed his players to grant so much green grass – well, actually brown dust considering the shocking state of the Wembley ‘turf’ – to the visitors.

    The double-pivot central midfield duo of the hectic Victor Wanyama and overshadowed Harry Winks were situated just in front of the back four. Nothing wrong with that.

    But the problem was that Tottenham’s front four – especially the advanced midfield trio of Lucas Moura, Erik Lamela and Son Heung-min – allowed themselves to be bypassed so easily.

    Any team will take advantage of that kind of room, and when you’re talking about Sergio Busquets, Rakitic, Philippe Coutinho, Arthur (more of whom later) and of course Lionel Messi, your chances of escaping unhurt are close to zero.

    Despite the apparent closeness of the scoreline, this was at times a severe footballing lesson from the Catalan giants – who passed their way through midfield with remarkable ease.

    Two goals against the run of the play kept Tottenham in it, but they need to learn how to better control space if they want to compete with the best.

    ARTHUR COMES OF AGE

    “He’s just like Xavi!” they said, in excited tones. Just like Xavi? Are you serious?

    How can anyone even begin to resemble one of the greatest players in Barca’s history and arguably the finest midfielder of all-time?

    But Arthur, upon arriving at the club from Brazilian side Gremio in the summer, was eliciting that kind of comparison from day one.

    At Wembley, we saw why. The first hour, in particular, was hugely impressive from the 22- year-old, who showed maturity beyond his years and really did look like a passable version of Xavi as he coolly snaked his way into space in the centre of the field.

    Aided and abetted by the equally impressive Busquets and Rakitic, Arthur was able to shake off the attentions of the intensely hard-working opposition and an awful playing surface to play with calmness personified, always seeming to find time and space to release astute and well-judged passes.

    He was far less influential in the final half hour, understandably tiring in an unfamiliar environment on his first-ever Champions League start.

    But for much of the game he was simply outstanding, and if he can learn to last the pace for a full 90 minutes, Barca appear to have found themselves a very special talent.

    Tottenham Hotspur v FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Group B

    MESSI DOES ANOTHER MESSI

    How can new words be found to describe Messi? They cannot.

    New words would have to be invented to capture his magnificence, so we’ll just have to settle for some old words, even if they can never truly suffice.

    This was an outrageous display from the Argentina icon, whose brilliance was perhaps best summed up not by his goals, but by his two shots against the post, from almost identical positions, early in the second half.

    Messi has now hit the woodwork nine times this season, and although that appears to be unlucky there is also an explanation: he is so precise with his shooting, aiming unerringly for the very corner of the goal, that he only needs to be out by a fraction and the post will get in the way.

    Sometimes, the post is the only thing that can stop him.

    But most of the time, as with his two later goals, he prevails in the end.

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