Raissa's Blog - Best of Sports, Culture, and Entertainment

On Tuesday December 11, Tottenham Hotspur not only achieved their qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League, but also broke a Barcelona record. Ousmane Dembele gave Barcelona an early lead but the Spurs fought for and achieved an equalizer five minutes to stoppage. Thanks to Inter Milan's defeat to PSV who had nothing but pride to play for, Tottenham qualified for the last 16. Barcelona, for the first time since 2006, lost out in the ball possession battle during a Champions League group game. Spurs recorded 52% while the significantly rotated Barcelona team had 48%. An unusual midfield trio of Ivan Rakitic, Carles Alena and Arthur Lenglet lacked cohesion as expected. Barcelona had already qualified and thus named a younger, less experienced starting XI, with Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba starting from the bench. Jasper Cillessen replaced Ter Stergen at the goal post and was exceptional, with a perfect performance. There was nothing he could d...

Messi's hot streak in the Champions League isn't stopping anytime soon. He hit a hat trick in Barcelona's 4-1 win over PSV Eindhoven on Matchday 1 and delivered a masterclass performance, scoring twice for Barcelona in a 4-2 victory over the Spurs on Matchday 2. Messi could have walked off the Wembley pitch with four goals yesterday as he hit the goal post twice. The Blaugrana captain's double strike against the Spurs took his all-time Champions League goal tally to 108, merely 13 behind Cristiano Ronaldo. The Argentinian forward has now scored a remarkable 22 goals in 29 appearances against English clubs. Tottenham's manager, spellbound by his countryman's performance had the best to say about the iconic Barcelona No. 10. After the game, Pochettino said: "He's a fantastic player." "The most important thing is why Lionel Messi in every game shows why he is Messi. His average performance is this type of game, above everything else....