Mauricio Pochettino hailed his Tottenham players as “heroes” after they almost came from 2-0 down against a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona. Barcelona ran out 4-2 winners in the end at Wembley but Spurs nearly forced a famous comeback after clawing the game back to 3-2.
They pushed for a late winner but it was Messi that got the sixth goal of the game. Philippe Coutinho set the tempo for a breathtaking spectacle by scoring after 95 seconds, following some horrendous decision making by the returning Hugo Lloris.
Messi magic settles Wembley epic
Pochettino pointed to that mistake as the key component to why Barcelona were able to dictate the game and get Messi into plenty of space.
“To concede a goal so early, we destroyed the plan,” he said.
Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona beat Spurs 4-2 at Wembley
“If we start the game this way, it’s so tough for the players. In the second half. I feel proud for the effort of the players.”
Messi scored twice, played a major role in Barca’s other goals and hit the post twice as Tottenham slipped to back-to-back defeats in Group B.
It was a near faultless performance from the Argentine but Pochettino was happy with how Spurs dealt with him in the first half although conceded he was difficult to stop as the game developed.
“For 45 minutes, we didn’t concede one chance to Messi – but of course when we are 2-0 down and you give more space as we are attacking,” Pochettino said.
“It’s so difficult to stop this type of player. If you watch the game, in the first half – how many chances did Messi have? Not one. Of course, he’s the best player in the world but come on, in the first half we conceded in the first minute.
“We can’t talk about topics, we need to talk about reality. We were handicapped against Barcelona after conceding after one minute. I think our players were heroes to chase the game against a team with Messi, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho.”
Mauricio Pochettino’s men may have put up a fight with two second half goals but in truth they were taken to school by a Barca team driven on by the brilliant Lionel Messi.
It means they have now lost both their opening matches and are already six points off the pace of the Spanish club and Inter Milan as they chase qualification to the knock-out stages.
And it all started going wrong just 93 seconds into the game when a huge howler from Hugo Lloris gifted the La Liga champions the lead.
Lloris went AWOL to the corner of his area when there was no chance of him getting the ball, and Philippe Coutinho drilled his shot into the empty net. Twenty minutes later they fell further behind through a stunning strike from Croatian World Cup star Ivan Rakitic.