It was inevitable that Tottenham Hotspur would struggle this season. They have a squad of players drained by World Cup overachievement that wasn’t strengthened over the summer.
Add to that the delays with the new stadium, and Tottenham don’t yet have a regular home ground this year.
Most bizarre, though, is the situation with Harry Kane. Kane himself says everything’s fine. Pundits can’t decide whether Kane is tired, unmotivated or just playing differently. The hit-and-miss phenomenon of recent times has seen him drop deeper and link the play, like a number 10. The end result being that Tottenham’s talisman for the last three years isn’t scoring as many goals.
With all that in mind, it was always going to be a tough ask to beat Barcelona in matchday 2 of the Champions League.
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Tottenham twice came to within a goal of Barcelona in a 4 – 2 defeat that seemed closer than it was.
Barcelona opened the scoring in the second minute. A Hugo Lloris error presented the ball to Philippe Coutinho on the edge of the box after a Messi pass.
Coutinho finished with ruthless quality and it was an uphill battle from then on. Barcelona doubled their lead on 28 minutes. Ivan Rakitic hit a fantastic volley from the edge of the box that left Lloris with no chance.
It looked to be all over, until just before half time when Harry Kane got a goal back for Spurs. Taking a touch inside as he entered the box, he curled it into the far corner to restore hope for his team.
Despite that, Lionel Messi was looking ominous, and he started the second half with real intent. He hit the post twice with identical shots before eventually getting a slice of luck.
In the 56th minute, Alba cut the ball back, Suarez left it, and Messi had space on the penalty spot to finish with his left. He didn’t connect with it as well as he did with the first two shots, but if you give Messi three chances, he’s going to punish you.
Tottenham again pulled back through Erik Lamela ten minutes later. A deflected left foot shot from the edge of the box fooled Ter Stegen, and the deficit was again just one goal.
Spurs couldn’t complete an unlikely comeback though, and in stoppage time Messi struck again. As it had all night, the danger came down Spurs’ right hand side. Another dummy by Suarez saw the ball fall to Messi in the box. With that much time, Messi was never going to make a mistake, and he ended the game with his second goal.
Spurs have a chance to restore some confidence against Cardiff on Saturday. However, on a substandard Wembley pitch against Barcelona, it was clear that this will be a tough season.
