Lionel Messi praises "tough" performance

Lionel Messi has admitted that Barcelona found it difficult to break down the Spartak Moscow defence during their Champions League win over the Russian side.

The Argentinian forward, who scored two second-half goals to give the Catalan club victory at the Camp Nou, claimed that Tito Vilanova's side deserved to collect the three points.

"We deserved to win but it was a really tough game," Messi told reporters. "It's not easy when they defend so deep and you can't find the spaces.

"They were comfortable defending in their penalty area and they have very strong and quick forwards and can break quickly.

"Things got complicated but we kept pressing and we managed to turn it around."

The result extends Barcelona's unbeaten run in Europe to 18 games.