Victor Wanyama Recalls How Playing Against Lionel Messi Left Him Wishing He Had Running Spikes On

Victor Wanyama has picked the two most memorable matches he has ever played in during his storied career.

Wanyama has played in some of the world’s biggest competitions, including the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, while donning the colours of Scottish giants Celtic as well as English sides Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur.

The Kenyan midfielder was lauded during his spells at the three clubs where he hugely impressed as he put in several man of the match performances.

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However, according to the former CF Montreal player, no match comes close to two Champions League ties that he was involved in with both Tottenham and Celtic.

“Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City was a very difficult match but the entire team did so well,” Wanyama said on Citizen TV, referring to the two-legged tie against Pep Guardiola’s team in April 2019.

During that match, Spurs won 1-0 at home in the first leg but lost the return match 4-3 at the Etihad Stadium in what was a Champions League classic that saw them sail through on the away goals rule after a 4-4 draw on aggregate.

Wanyama started the match as City went ahead after just four minutes through Raheem Sterling’s fourth minute goal but Heung-min Son equalised three minutes later before adding a second in the 10th minute but the scores were 2-2 after just 11 minutes as Bernardo Siva levelled a minute later.

Sterling made it 3-2 for City in the 21st minute and it looked like Guardiola’s men were headed to the semi-final when Sergio Aguero made it 4-2 after 59 minutes. However, Mauricio Pochettino’s men pulled one back through Fernando Llorente 17 minutes from time.

Spurs would be involved in another classic in the semi-final when they beat Ajax in dramatic fashion to book a place in the final where they lost 2-0 to Liverpool.

Meanwhile, while that was a memorable match for Wanyama, he admits playing against Barcelona in the 2012-2013 season will live in his memory forever.

“The other one was Celtic against Barcelona which was even more difficult. When we finished the first half and went to the dressing room, the coach was speechless,” Wanyama recalled the match that saw Celtic beat the Spanish giants 2-1 at Celtic Park in November 2012.

Wanyama had a hilarious account of the match win in which he was among the scorers as Celtic won it with just 16 per cent possession against a totally dominant Barcelona team that had Lionel Messi leading the attack while Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets ran rings in midfield.

“They totally dominated us but we were not giving them space. I was thinking to myself; ‘why have I come with football boots, I should have worn running spikes’ because we ran a lot. But we won that match and I scored, which was great.”

During that match, Wanyama headed past Victor Valdes after 21 minutes and they held firm until late on when Tony Watt came off the bench to give them a 2-0 lead with Messi tapping home in injury time when Neil Lennon’s men had done enough to win the group stage match.