Barcelona squares up against Tottenham at Wembley tonight and they were already two goals up in the first 45 minutes of play with goals from Phillipe Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic.
Barcelona leads through some sheer class only 92 seconds in. Messi is allowed to pick a pass on the half-way line, and he doesn’t pass it up by bending a ball just inside of Trippier to find Alba’s run. Lloris comes way off his line to try to claim it but Alba is there first and pulls it back to Coutinho who slots into an empty net from 18 yards.
The Blaugrana scored the second goal in fine style, as Ivan Rakitic leathers a volley in off the post from 25 yards.
Messi’s clipped ball inside from wide finds Coutinho whose air shot looks like it lets Tottenham off the hook, but the Brazilian keeps it alive and fires it back to the edge of the box. Rakitic is there and thumps it off the near post and beyond Hugo Lloris.
But the goal scored by the Croatian has been the most talked about as it was even compared to the evergreen goal scored by Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane in the UEFA Champions League Final in 2002 against Bayern Leverkusen.
Exactly 16 years ago, Zinedine Zidane scored what many consider to be the greatest goal in the history of the Champions League.
On 15 May 2002, Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen played out the Champions League final at Scotland's Hampden Park and of course it was Zizou who was the difference-maker.
Real went 1-0 up in Glasgow when a quick throw-in led to talisman Raul nipping behind and seeing his left-footed finish trickle past Jörg Butt.
At the time, Bayer had a talented crop of players and had knocked out both Liverpool and Manchester United in knockout rounds on their way to the final. They responded quickly to going a goal down when defender Lucio, who went on to win the World Cup two months later, rose highest to head home the equaliser from Bernd Schneider's teasing delivery in the 13th minute.
The question is which one do you prefer?
Today match predictions.....
