| Match report
Spurs set out on mission
impossible against a less than full strength Barcelona starting XI
and had to wait until after the game to find out if their 1-1 draw
was good enough for them to progress.
Lining up with a strong side and a strong bench, Spurs looked
positive from the kick off and within a couple of minutes, Dele and
Christian Eriksen played a neat one-two with a cheeky back heel
putting the game in a good shooting position in the area, but
Miranda got back to nick the ball away from him just before he could
pull the trigger. Kyle Walker-Peters’ attacking intent won a
free-kick up our right wing and with Danny Rose running over it,
Eriksen swung it into the area, but it was headed out. Moussa
Sissoko, facing his own goal ten yards outside the Barca box headed
it back to Walker-Peters 10 yards inside the Barcelona half, but his
touch took the ball away from him as he moved towards halfway and
Dembele was rapid in reaching him and taking the ball away from him.
He tracked back, Winks slid across Dembele, but he showed composure
to come inside and slide a left foot shot under Lloris to give the
home team a seventh minute lead.
It wasn’t what Tottenham needed, but with our free-kick committing
men forward, a more circumspect approach might have been a better
tactic, with a result needed from the game. Spurs now had to dig
deep to come from behind, much the way they did in the first meeting
in the group.
The game settled into a passing phase, with both sides probing, but
not creating clear chances. Son got into the box, but went wide and
couldn’t make anything of it, while Dele cleared at the far post
when a free kick on their left almost reached Vermaelen. There was
almost as big a noise as the goal when the 17th minute arrived and
there was an in stadium protest about the Catalunyan independence
campaigners.
Tight passing was difficult, with both sides closing down, although
Spurs seemed to be conserving some energy during a quarter hour
spell after the goal. Aside from a slip by Lloris as he went to
clear a back pass, there were few more worrying moments and the home
team had an escape when Eriksen slid the ball outside him on the
left and his cross ball went through the six yard box, just ahead of
Son. When Vermaelen dived in, studs up on Eriksen’s shin, Spurs had
a free-kick on the left hand corner of the box, but Kane hit the
wall. Then, a through ball by Eriksen set Sonny in on goal, after
his touch took the ball past Vermaelen, With the ball inside the box
on the left side and Cillessen coming out, Son tried to slide it
past him to the keeper’s left, but he stuck a foot out to deflect
the ball away. It was a great chance in the 32nd minute and I
wondered how many more we would get.
Son had a low shot easily saved by Cillessen and a minute before
half-time, Barcelona came with a few inches of making it 2-0 as
Coutinho turned Winks and ran at goal in the box, with Alderweireld
doing just enough to restrict the room the midfielder had to shoot
and the ball cannoned off the foot of the post and away.
Half-time was spent discussing the options of the outcomes of the
game. PSV were beating Inter at the San Siro and we needed a goal,
because, surely, that game would not stay that way until the end.
Early on in the second half, it looked as though Spurs knew what
they had to do, as Eriksen released Sissoko down the right and he
chose to try and early ball across to Kane, but it was cut out, when
perhaps he had a little more time to wait to put the ball in. Then
Toby played a ball up to Kane, who shielded it and laid in for
Eriksen to take a touch and try to curl one in to the keeper’s
right, but Cillessen again made the save to touch it away for a
corner.
Hugo had to be alert when Coutinho scooped the ball over the top for
Alena, but the Spurs captain raced out to head clear. The game was a
bit end to end and Keane raced away on the left wing, putting the
ball across for Eriksen and then Dele to have shots blocked. Kane
then had a chance when put through on goal and Longlet laid hands on
Kane’s back as he reached the box, forcing him to shoot over the bar
wildly. At the Spurs end, Walker-Peters made a brilliant block when
the ball had been pulled back to Coutinho just inside the box and in
the middle of the goal.
It looked like being one of those nights, as Rose pulled a low cross
behind every white shirt in the box and then Eriksen worked the ball
to Son in the box, but his left footed shot was weak and the keeper
made a simple stop. Barcelona had a goal ruled out, but Munir was
well offside when Coutinho played a smart ball into the box, but the
flag was up a long time before he screwed the ball past Lloris.
Pochettino replaced Walker-Peters with Lamela and this moved Sissoko
to right back, with Lamela slotting into midfield. The Barca players
were hitting the deck with screams to win free-kicks and one was
played across to the right, where Dembele tried to find the top
corner with a curling effort, but put it too far wide. Then the home
crowd got excited as Lionel Messi came on in the 63rd minute, which
didn’t fill the Spurs fans with joy.
From one of the strong challenges, Rose won the ball from Semedo,
then Lamela chased a long pass down and won a corner off Vermaelen.
From it, Christian beat the first man and picked out Harry Kane’s
head. He nodded the ball downwards at goal, but Miranda kicked it
away just inside the six yard box. It was a good chance and again,
it looked as if fate was against us. Even more so, when Rose lifted
a ball to the far post and Eriksen met it on the volley, only for
Cillessen to block the ball on the line. The ref gave a free-kick
anyway for a foul by Kane on Vermaelen, but it was soft.
The game was wearing on and the news that Inter had equalised
through Icardi made things look a little bleak. As Tottenham looked
for the goal that would make a big difference, Messi went on a
little run towards the box, but he couldn’t beat Moussa Sissoko. In
the 75th minute, Spurs looked as if they were not going to make it,
when Sissoko’s cross was headed by substitute Lucas Moura, who saw
it saved by the keeper inches in front of the line and then he
picked up the loose ball, spun back towards goal and fired a shot in
that went narrowly wide. His header appeared to hit his thigh on the
way down, perhaps making it easier for the goalie to get hands to
it. Lucas also went down in the box, as Semedo challenged him, later
seen to be grabbing his shorts as he did so. Rose made a finely
timed tackle on Arthur in the box to stop him gaining possession
from a Messi pass.
When Sissoko’s low cross deflected off two defenders and fell to the
keeper, it looked as though our luck was out. Poch threw on Llorente
for WInks as a Plan B, with Messi putting in Coutinho again and he
jinked into the box, finding space to bend the ball around
Alderweireld, but once more seeing the ball bounce away off the
post, with Lloris beaten. Perhaps the gods were looking down on us.
Rose won the ball at left back and playing it out through Jan and
Toby, it ended up with Eriksen switching it left to Lamela. He
played it down the line, for Kane, being played on by Vermaelen and
he played a cross between two players sliding in and Moura was on
the six yard line, from where he volleyed the ball past Cillessen,
who had no chance of stopping this one. The Spurs fans went
delirious and with Harry Kane urging the team to get the ball and
get back for the kick off, they obviously felt they could go for the
win.
The referee was doing his best to help Barcelona get back in front,
with a weak free-kick for a foul on Arthur, which allowed Messi to
try and effort from 25 yards out, but it didn’t dip and was over the
bar. Two minutes from time, a superb reverse ball from Eriksen gave
Lamela space to pass it on to Kane and his blind ball found Danny
Rose steaming in on his left, but with space, he fired the ball well
over, when a goal there would have made things more comfortable.
Now, all you could hear was the Spurs fans, apart from a few
whistles from home supporters, but there was still danger while
Messi was on the pitch. Four minutes of added time was shown and
when Messi played a through ball looking for Denis Suarez, Toby’s
mis-kick took the ball through to Lloris, luckily enough. When the
Argentine captain was presented with a shooting chance, from just
outside the box, his effort flew over the bar as his foot went from
under him. When the final whistle went, the Spurs fans celebrated,
but nothing like when the result came through that PSV had got a
point with nothing to play for and knocked Inter into the Europa
League.
It was a memorable performance that was worthy of the point and
perhaps more. Barcelona played to win and hit the post twice,
but Spurs had numerous opportunities to score and Cillessen was the
man of the match with his outstanding performance.
Despite all the nonsense of poor fan management getting into the
ground (having to walk al the way around it, then made to wait as
the police regulated the access to the ticket checks and gates,
hitting fans with batons as they went before walking over a rickety
scaffold bridge into the ramshackle stadium and being directed to
our seat in the back row but one of the highest part of the ground),
it was a memorable night that shows Spurs can challenge in this
calibre of opponent's home ground.
So, it was a fantastic
result, a fantastic city, but a bit of a toilet of a ground.
They are due to rebuild it, taking four years and still playing
there, as they redevelop it moving fans around as they go. It
needs it. It was shabby and very basic, which was a shock when
it is supposed to be one of the biggest clubs in the world.
But it was the result that
mattered and Spurs did what they needed to do to get through (with
PSV helping out). Every one of the players did their bit, with
Kyle Walker-Peters standing up well after his mistake, but it will
be something to learn from.
Onto next Monday for the
draw to find out our next opponents.
Marco van Hip |
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