Barcelona have returned to winning ways thanks to a 4-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Just 92 seconds were needed for the visitors to edge in front, as Lionel Messi played the ball through for Jordi Alba, who took Hugo Lloris and Kieran Trippier out of the game and pulled the ball back for Philippe Coutinho to fire into an unguarded net from the edge of the box.
Aiming to avoid a fourth game without victory for the first time since 2009, Barca continued to look threatening and had themselves a second goal before the half-hour mark.
An impressive team move looked to have fizzled out when Coutinho mishit his shot, but the Brazilian managed to keep the ball in play and set up Ivan Rakitic 25 yards out for Barca’s 600th goal in the European Cup.
Rakitic lifted both feet off the ground to connect with Coutinho’s pass, sending the ball flying past Spurs skipper Lloris via the inside of the post.
Barca should have been out of sight in the early stages of the second period, but Messi twice hit the same post from identical positions after carrying the ball forward.
Thirty-two seconds after the second of those let-offs for Spurs, Kane dragged them right back into the match with his curled finish past Ter Stegen after working the ball onto his right foot.
Tottenham’s hopes of salvaging a point were short-lived, though, as Messi soon restored his side’s two-goal advantage by guiding Alba’s cross into the bottom corner, finishing off another move that he started from deep.
The open feel to the match looked to be playing into Barca’s hands, but the Lilywhites were right back in it once again thanks to Lamela’s heavily deflected shot off Clement Lenglet, which looped over the reach of Ter Stegen.
The introduction of Fernando Llorente for the final 10 minutes made clear that Spurs would go all out for an equaliser, and it was the visitors who looked the more likely to score the game’s sixth goal before Messi struck for a second time.
Lucas Moura’s shot was deflected wide off Lenglet, while Kane glanced narrowly wide and Alderweireld had an effort stopped in a routine manner by Ter Stegen, but Messi sealed things when slotting the ball past Lloris after the Frenchman played his side in trouble with a poor pass.
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