Fans rejoice as Barcelona beat Inter Milan 2-0 without Lionel Messi

FC Barcelona were in top shape on Wednesday night as they made light work of Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League. The Catalan giants barely put a foot wrong, as the club emerged 2-0 winners in a fixture which immediately puts them top of Group B.

Inter Milan came into the game boosted by an impressive winning streak – the club had won each of their last seven games in all competition. That, coupled with the unavailability of Lionel Messi, gave the Serie A side a better chance of upsetting the hosts.

However, Barca stepped up their game and were fairly comfortable for the majority of the game without their talismanic captain. Having started the game on a sloppy note, Ernesto Valverde’s side grew stronger with each passing minute and rightly took the lead midway through the first half.

Good work from Luis Suarez led to the Uruguayan setting up Rafinha to open the scoring. Barca could have gone 2-0 up soon afterwards but were met with an impressive goalkeeping display by Samir Handanovic between the posts for the visitors.

The Spanish giants continued to press, but had to wait till the 83rd minute to get their cushioning goal, this time Jodi Alba getting on the scoresheet. The left-back showed great composure to stab home Barcelona’s second after being set up by Ivan Rakitic.

The result means that the Blaugrana maintain their 100% record in this year’s Champions League, having won all of their opening three games. It also puts the Catalans top of group B and three points above second-placed Inter Milan.

Messi may not have played but his presence on the bench certainly spurred his teammates on to victory. Many football fans have since taken to Twitter to give their opinions on the game as well.

Here are some of the best tweets following Barca’s 2-0 win over Inter Milan:

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