UEFA Champions League 2018/19: Tottenham Hotspur vs Barcelona

One of the most anticipated clashes in this season’s UEFA Champions League group stage, five times European champions and Lionel Messi travelled to Wembley to play Mauricio Pochettino’s exciting young Tottenham Hotspur side. With Spurs losing their opening game away to Internazionale, this game at home to one of the tournament favourites dauntingly felt like a must-win for the North London club. The visitors have had a lot of success when travelling to the English capital and Messi always relishes an opportunity to prove his greatness when on British soil.

Missing four of his key players in Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Mousa Dembélé, Mauricio Pochettino faced a very un-ideal scenario when selecting his starting XI. The Argentine boss set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with a double-pivot in midfield of Harry Winks and Victor Wanyama, both tasked with the role of protecting their back 4 and ensuring progression up the field when in possession. Both are very capable players but none are near the class of Mousa Dembélé when it comes to resisting opposition pressure in midfield.

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde in contrast could name a very familiar, start-studded line-up as the Blaugrana setup in a typical 4-3-3 shape. The midfield trio of Sergio Busquets, Arthur and Ivan Rakitic can make opposition players look like a dog chasing its tale when in possession and can pass the life out of any opposing team’s press.

Asymmetric Barça gives Messi a free role

As the early passages of play unfolded, Barça’s assumed 4-3-3 shape was less evident than expected and instead a more asymmetric setup arose consistently throughout the game. While Coutinho held his left-wing position or pushed up in support of Suarez, Messi, in contrast, drifted into the middle of the pitch, looking for spaces in between the Spurs’ midfield and defence while Suarez kept that back-line honest. Both full-backs, Alba and Semedo pushed forward typically to provide their team width in attack. This system sometimes resembled a diamond-shaped midfield with Messi at its peak.

The man at the bottom of the diamond, Sergio Busquets, has long been pivotal to Barcelona’s style of play. Yet he seems somehow still underrated by fans and some fellow professionals alike as their focus is fixed on Messi, Suarez and their top-class supporting cast. Spurs pressed the Blaugrana high into their own third of the pitch within the first minute but when doing so they failed to pay sufficient attention to Busquets. The deep-lying playmaker has long been one of the World’s best in that role and transfers the ball from his defenders to his forwards with expert precision and consistency.