Tottenham Hotspur entertained Barcelona at the Wembley Stadium earlier tonight hoping to get their first points on board in this year’s UEFA Champions League. Spurs made a poor start to the game and conceded in the 2nd minute after a string of defensive errors which was punished by Phillipe Coutinho. The Catalans doubled their lead courtesy of Ivan Rakitic’s wonder strike which gave them a commanding two-goal lead at half-time.
Spurs responded through Harry Kane’s goal early in the second half, but Lionel Messi restored Barca’s two-goal advantage by finding the back of the net in the 56th minute. Tottenham were not willing to give up without a fight and scored again through Erik Lamela, but the Catalans wrapped up the points in injury time when Messi conjured up a goal again to hand Barca a fantastic 4-2 win on the night.
Let’s take a look at how each Tottenham Hotspur player performed during the game against Barcelona.
GK: Hugo Lloris – 4/10
The Tottenham skipper made an error in the 2nd minute which was punished by Coutinho. The French keeper conceded four goals during the game which capped off a disappointing return for him in a Spurs shirt.
RB: Kieran Trippier – 4.5/10
The English full-back made a string of errors in the lead-up to at least two of Barca’s four goals on the night. His delivery from set-pieces was the only positive going forward.
CB: Toby Alderweireld – 5/10
He found it hard to cope with the pace of the Catalans while defending inside his half. The Belgian was completely out of position for Barcelona’s late injury-time goal which should disappoint him.
CB: Davinson Sanchez – 4/10
He started the game quite slow and Suarez got the better of him in a couple of occasions early on. The Colombian defender came back strong in the second half, but it was too little too late by then.
LB: Ben Davies – 5.5/10
He was the best defender for Spurs and did well to stop Barca from attacking down his flank.
CM: Victor Wanyama – 5.5/10
He made some good interceptions but was cautioned in the first half. However, he didn’t do much after the break and was replaced by Eric Dier.
CM: Harry Winks – 7/10
He worked tirelessly for Spurs at the middle of the park. The youngster covered a lot of ground and gave a good account of himself against a world-class Barca midfield.
RM: Lucas Moura – 6.5/10
The Brazilian winger created some chances for his teammates but couldn’t register a goal on the night.
CAM: Erik Lamela – 8/10
The Argentine playmaker was at the heart of the Tottenham comeback in the second half. He set up Kane quite well for Tottenham’s opener before scoring himself in the 66th minute via a deflected strike to give Spurs some hope from the game.
LM: Heung-min Son – 5/10
The South-Korean struggled to be productive in the attacking third and looked like a shadow of his former self. Son needs to hit top-form soon, or he might lose his first-team starting position under Mauricio Pochettino.
ST: Harry Kane – 7.5/10
The English forward worked his socks off and got a goal to show for his efforts in the second half.
Substitutes:
CM: Eric Dier – 6/10
He came off the bench to provide some more energy to the Tottenham midfield.
CM: Moussa Sissoko – 5/10
He squandered an excellent opportunity to score after coming on.
ST: Fernando Llorente – N/A
The Spaniard hardly had any time to make an impact.
