Barca-Wembley Romance Continue

The second matchday of UCL featured a few high intensity clashes. Catalan giants, Barcelona, travelled to England to take on Tottenham Hotspur, looking to turn around their poor run of form. Visiting Wembley has always been special for the team in red and blue. Barcelona have won two UCL finals in this iconic stadium. Going up against a depleted Tottenham side, Barcelona made a few changes in their starting line-up. Lenglet came in for a suspended Umtiti, Semedo for an injured Roberto and Arthur in the midfield for OusmaneDembele while Coutinho played in a more attacking role. Tottenham took the field without regulars- Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Vertonghen. A defence splitting pass from Messi in the 2^nd minute of the game saw Barcelona take the lead as Jordi Alba cut it back for Coutinho who finished it superbly. Another such pass found Suarez who chested it down for Coutinho. Coutinho went for the shot which was blocked by Lloris and fell for the Brazilian again, who played it back to Rakitic. The Croatian came up with something very special as his first-time volley clipped the inside of the post to find the back of the net.



The second half began and Tottenham pulled one back through Harry Kane, who finished it rather nicely past the German shot-stopper. Messi hit the post twice in 5 minutes before actually getting his name on the score sheet. Again, Jordi Alba put a low ball in from the left to find Messi in the middle of the box who tucked it home. Erik Lamela added Spur’s second as his deflected shot managed to beat terStegen who had already committed himself. Right when Tottenham were looking to put up a fight, Messi added Barca’s fourth and his second of the night, again from a ball put in by, you guessed it, Jordi Alba. Five goals in two matches- Messi becomes the highest scorer in the group stages of the Champions League with 65 goals in 65 matches.



PSG on the other hand absolutely took Belgrade apart as they put 6 goals past them. Neymar was on sublime form last night as he claimed the match ball converting two set pieces from the edge of the box. Schalke just made it past Lokomotiv Moscow in their away game. Porto won 1-0 at home against Galatasaray in what was IkerCasillas’ 175^th UCL appearance- highest by any player, taking him past Paolo Maldini (174). Keeping up with the trend, Inter Milan came from behind again, to beat PSV after the Dutch side took the lead following a brilliant goal from Pablo Rosario.



Dortmund continued their brilliant show as they went past Monaco 3-0. PacoAlcacer scored as he made up for missing a spot-kick. Reus also found the back of the net as the Bundesliga leaders took pole position in their group and are yet to concede a goal in the competition. Atletico won 3-1 at home against Club Brugge after ArnautDanjuma scored a brilliant equaliser for the Belgian side following Greizmann’s opener. Liverpool didn’t have a lot to take away from their visit to Italy as they failed to find the back of the net against Napoli in their Champions League fixture. Lorenzo Insigne’s 90^th minute goal gave Napoli all three points as Naby Keita was stretchered off the field.