Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde has heaped praise on summer signing Arthur following his side’s 4-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League on Wednesday night. The Blaugrana were the dominant side for the most of the European encounter but they were stages where the hosts tried to come back into the game.
Despite this, Lionel Messi once more made the difference by scoring a match-winning brace but Valverde took time to praise the qualities of Arthur, who was hugely impressive with his distribution throughout the match, he said: “Man, that’s what it’s about. Looking for a gap, he has some qualities that come in handy. He completes many passes, it’s hard to take the ball off him. He has been a starter in an important game. We played a good game and we had opportunities to extend the lead before and not have to suffer so much, but this is the Champions League.”
Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde has heaped praise on summer signing Arthur following his side’s 4-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League on Wednesday night. The Blaugrana were the dominant side for the most of the European encounter but they were stages where the hosts tried to come back into the game.
Despite this, Lionel Messi once more made the difference by scoring a match-winning brace but Valverde took time to praise the qualities of Arthur, who was hugely impressive with his distribution throughout the match, he said: “Man, that’s what it’s about. Looking for a gap, he has some qualities that come in handy. He completes many passes, it’s hard to take the ball off him. He has been a starter in an important game. We played a good game and we had opportunities to extend the lead before and not have to suffer so much, but this is the Champions League.”
“Barcelona had come into this game on the back of three matches without a victory and during this period,“ their defensive organisation was questioned amid the patchy form of Gerard Pique. However, the Catalan giants did not show any major symptoms of that struggle during their visit to the Wembley “Stadium and Spurs had“ to work hard to find the scoresheet with Harry Kane and Erik Lamela.
The victory over Spurs sees Barcelona placed firmly at the top of Group B with six points and right behind them are Inter Milan, who are only trailing on goal difference. As such, Spurs are already facing an uphill task of making progress beyond the group stage of the Champions League and the double-header against PSV Eindhoven following the international break may make or break their prospects of reaching the knockout stage of the elite competition. Should this not be the case, Spurs could end up third and qualify for the Europa League knockouts for the second time in three seasons.