Let’s be fair here: Tottenham was missing a number of key starters due to injury. But damn, Barcelona looked so much better than Spurs in the first half of their Champions League match on Wednesday at Wembley Stadium in London.
Philippe Coutinho scored an easy goal 90 seconds into the match and Ivan Rakitic hammered home a long-range volley off the post in the 28th minute as Barcelona led 2-0 at halftime.
Wednesday's Tottenham vs Barcelona Champions League match is exciting by itself. Two great teams facing each other, that's already really cool.
Déjà vu approached the viewer of CSKA Moscow vs. Real Madrid on Tuesday and punched him or her in the teeth. Whether it was the sight of Russian internationals Igor Akinfeev and Mario Fernandes doing brave defending, Marco Asensio never making the right decision in the final third or Toni Kroos not enjoying himself on Russian soil, Tuesday showed that Julen Lopetegui could only run from the demons he’d managed to avoid by getting sacked before the World Cup for so long.
In previewing tomorrow’s Champions League tilt between Tottenham and Barcelona at Wembley, The Guardian’s David Hytner wrote a terrific piece detailing how an 18-year-old Lionel Messi almost joined Espanyol on loan in the summer of 2005, back when current Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino was still playing center back for the club that lies in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district of Barcelona.
When Atletico and Real Madrid last met, Atletico scored a wild 4-2 win in extra time in the UEFA Super Cup in August in Tallinn, Estonia. On Saturday at the Bernabeu, no one won the Madrid Derby — except maybe Barcelona.
In a fairly tame Madrid Derby, neither side could find a way to score in a 0-0 draw. Atletico will take the road point (it hasn't lost in the Bernabeu in six years), but Real will rue the chance to go atop the LaLiga table.