Tottenham facing injury crisis ahead of Barcelona Champions League game

Striker Harry Kane, who scored seven goals in last season's Champions League campaign, did not seem daunted by the prospect of facing five-times Ballon d'Or victor Messi.

Mauricio Pochettino has hit out at Tottenham Hotspur's "unfair" fixture schedule. "This is Barca. We have enough players, we don't need to depend on one".

'He set the standard, he and Cristiano Ronaldo gone above the normal standard, when they are scoring 50 or 60 goals a season, ' said Kane.

"It's a good chance to win and focus on ourselves, maybe there's some pressure, but we want to show that people are wrong", Kane said in his pre-match press conference.

At the club's open training session on Tuesday, a host of top names were nowhere to be seen - Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembele, Christian Eriksen, Serge Aurier and Michel Vorm.

'We are not victims though. He's definitely set the standard for the rest of us and he still is. We must feel strong.

Last season Tottenham ensured qualification for the knockout stage with a memorable 3-1 win over Real Madrid at Wembley but Pochettino thinks it will be hard to replicate the performance against Barcelona. Every player must feel they can win and achieve what we want'.

Better news for Pochetinno about his World Cup-winning goalkeeper Hugo Lloris who is back in contention having returned to training.

And former Tottenham defender Pascal Chimbonda believes it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Pochettino and co will be celebrating at full-time, particularly if they impose their style on Ernesto Valverde's style.

Argentina's Messi now holds multiple scoring records, including the most goals in a calendar year.

England captain Kane has been the Premier League's top scorer for two of the last three seasons and won the Golden Boot at the World Cup in Russian Federation.