Mauricio Pochettino blames Spurs star for destroying gameplan vs Barcelona

Mauricio Pochettino admits Tottenham’s gameplan was destroyed by Hugo LIoris’ early mistake at Wembley. Barcelona took the lead after just 95 seconds in London when Philippe Coutinho fired home from Jordi Alba’s cut back. Lloris needlessly vacated his goal in a moment of madness to gift Coutinho the chance. Then Ivan Rakitic scored a stunning long-range strike and goals from Erik Lamela and Harry Kane couldn’t save the Spurs from defeat as Lionel Messi’s second half brace insured Barcelona ran out 4-2 winners. But manager Mauricio Pochettino blamed LIoris for destroying his gameplan. ‘I think if you watch football you understand from the changing room we start the game 1-0 down,’ said Pochettino. ‘We are a team that needed to win and to concede [so early] the plan was destroyed. It’s difficult to assess the first half because it was difficult for the team to restart and to feel confident. ‘When you start a game at this level against Barcelona you cannot concede these types of chances. ‘To play against Barcelona, when you concede after one minute, I think our players are heroes,’ said Pochettino. ‘To chase the game against Messi, Suarez, Coutinho, to be competitive in the second half [they are heroes]. ‘If Moura scores the third goal we talk about heroes and the manager is the best in the world.’

Jurgen Klopp singles out two Liverpool players for criticism after Reds’ defeat