Messi-less Barcelona Beat Inter Milan 2-0

By Max Wise

Barcelona played without Lionel Messi but still showed firepower as they eased past Inter Milan 2-0 to open a three-point lead in Group-B of the Champions League.

Lionel Messi missed the Champions League match day-three encounter as he is nursing an arm injury that would keep him on the sidelines for about three weeks.

But Ernesto Valverde's men turned up in style courtesy goals from Rafinha and Jordi Alba as Barcelona pulled a revenge against the Italian giants who beat Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final en route to their winning of the 2009/10 competition.

Rafinha fetched the opener in the 32nd minute before Jordi Alba wrapped up the points of an uneven evening where Luciano Spalletti’s Inter Milan struggled to threaten the Catalan club.

Barcelona top the pecking order with 9 points from three games, followed by Inter Milan with six, above Tottenham and PSV, who held each other to a 1-1 draw at Philips Stadion in the group’s early kick off game.

Clement Lenglet forced a nice save from Inter’s Samir Handanovic in the 18th minute before Slovenian goalkeeper stopped Rafinha’s low header, from going into the middle of the goal, with a brilliant reflex save in the 28th minute.

Rafinha broke the deadlock two minutes after the half-hour mark by meeting a perfect cross from Luis Suarez deep inside the box to control with a nice first touch before producing a low shot into the middle of the goal.

Matias Vecino missed an opportunity to pull even for Luciano Spalletti’s Inter in the 38th minute by shooting over the bar from close range, Marc-Andre ter Stegen pulled off a reflexive save to block Matteo Politano's shot in the 50th minute, before Samir Handanovic produced an amazing save to deny Luis Suarez’s close-range shot in the 63rd minute.

Philippe Coutinho hit the crossbar with a goalbound strike in the 77th minute, Lautaro Martinez had a good opportunity for Inter when he latched on to a cross from the wing. His strike from the six-yard box wasn't accurate enough as it went a few inches wide of the left post.

Ivan Rakitic flew a measured shot over the bar in the 81st minute, before assisting Jordi Alba for the second goal by teeing up of the left wing-back, who kept his cool to find the right side of the goal.

Luis Suarez made an excellent touch of the ball in the 90th minute, but Samir Handanovic once again was alert and pulled off a magnificent save to stop the Uruguayan from producing a low drive into the right post.