| Match report
A pulsating match saw Tottenham
turn the tables on Juventus, who took an early two goal lead, but
dropped into typical Italian defensive mode, allowing Spurs not only
to dominate possession, but also the play and draw level and
possibly could have gone on to win the game. The draw sets up
the return leg on a knife-edge, but one team will have taken more
from this match and it wasn't Juve.
The tifosi had been out
early laying out the plastic flags to make pretty patterns around
the home fans sections, that all came out when the Champions League
anthem was played, but the Spurs fans made themselves heard though
in the numerical minority.
But with Tottenham, you know nothing will be done the easy way.
Just 1 minute 13 seconds into the game, they fell behind.
A free kick was conceded by Dembele 30 yards out, after a couple of
weak clearances and Pjanic got up to take it. He was more
alert than the Spurs defence and dinked the ball down the
right channel for Higuain to volley across Lloris from just inside
the area to find the bottom corner of the net. Hugo got a hand to
it, but not enough to keep it out and it was a soft goal defensively
to concede.
With seven minutes on the clock, a deflected cross saw Davies go for
the ball, but Bernardeschi came towards the ball from behind him and
was brought down. Higuain took the penalty and just squeezed it
inside Lloris' right hand post, with a hand laid on it again, but
not sufficient to stop it. 2-0 down before the game had really got
going and things didn't look good for Spurs. In fact, it was looking
like that Bale match against Inter Milan in this competition.
Spurs started putting some passes together, but Juve soon got ten
outfield men behind the ball to pack the width of the penalty area
and Spurs began closing down the home team higher up the pitch, but
when Juventus did it to Spurs, we failed to move off the man on the
ball to make an angle for him. Kane went down under challenge
from Benatia but the German ref did not give a penalty on this
occasion, even though it was an untidy effort by the Moroccan.
Tottenham almost broke when Dele ran past Chiellini but his pass
intended for Kane was cut out. A diagonal ball across to Ben
Davies saw the Welshman volley a first time cross, which caused some
panic in the Juventus box and on 25 minutes, Spurs had a great
chance, when Eriksen floated a cross beyond the back line for Kane
to have a clear header at goal, but he headed it straight at Buffon,
who blocked it. It was a little like his goal against Arsenal
on Saturday, although a bit closer in.
Lamela was fouled 25 yards out on the left corner of the area and
Christian's dead ball was easily cleared but it went back to him and
his 20 yard drive swerved away from Buffon's left hand post. Just
before the half hour, Spurs might have had a goal, with Dembele
picking a pass through to Dele, who was tackled by de Sciglio just
as he was about to shoot. Then, the ball was moved upfield and
Higuain and Pjanic swapped passes, before the Argentinian cut to his
left and powered a low shot that flew just outside the post. From
what could have been 2-1 was nearly 3-0. Another chance for
Harry in the box saw him drag it across goal with his left foot,
with Buffon making sure the ball went wide with a dive to his left.
Juventus were a little loose in possession and Spurs were making
inroads into their box.
A scruffy bit of passing from both sides ended with Spurs getting
the ball and Dele passing forward to Kane in the 35th minute.
As the home defence stepped up, he ran past them and rounded Buffon
to put the ball into an empty net from the left of the goal with a
neat left foot finish. It ruined Buffon's chance of a 50th clean
sheet in the Champions League, but the goal had been coming, as Juve
sat deep and conceded possession too readily. With so many men
behind the ball, any out ball went straight to a purple shirt and it
was starting to get the crowd on Juventus' back.
A free-kick 40 yards out was taken short and Christian drilled an
effort at goal from 35 yards out that Buffon had to beat out,
unconvincingly. Four minutes before the break, some good passing and
a neat run by Eriksen picked out a cross for Dele, who got his head
to it, but couldn't get power behind it, looping it up in the air
for it to land on the roof of the net. Eriksen master-minded a
neat short passing move that got Aurier into space, but his cross
was blocked and when Lamela played the corner in, Kane had a
free-kick given against him despite his shirt being pulled off him.
Benatia went through the back of Harry in the air and was booked,
then a number of Juventus players were half-heartedly going into
tackles - it was a mish-mash of a performance. But right on
half-time, Aurier dived into a tackle on Douglas Costa and a penalty
was given. Higuain stepped up again and this time his shot hit the
bar right down the middle of the goal and the ball bounced away with
the referee whistling for the end of the first half before the ball
landed.
Aurier picked up an early yellow in the second half for a needless
foul on Alex Sandro just over halfway and that ruled him out of the
second leg. Ironically, Costa, who clattered into Kane when Dele was
away on the left earned just a free-kick and it was worse than
Aurier's challenge. Both team's players slipped on the pitch
when they looked to set up attacks, all the while Mandzukic was on
the floor with a groin injury. When Dier and Sanchez left the ball
for each other just inside their own half, Sanchez's header went to
Pjanic and he looked for Higuain early, but the ball was won by
Spurs, when it looked like the home team might be in for a
goal-scoring opportunity.
Spurs were enjoying possession and were pulling the striped shirts
around, by recycling the ball, going back to move it forward again.
Against the run of play, the ball was played right to Bernardeschi
to come in on his left foot and his shot just inside the box was
tipped around the post by Lloris, Hugo was in the right place again
when the corner found Mandzukic free six yards out and the header
went straight into his hands. Tottenham were playing a lot of
the time in Juventus' defensive third, but a break by Higuain was
stopped by a fine tackle by Jan, but the striker didn't like it and
ended up getting booked for dissent. Our defenders were
switched off when a throw-in was taken and Sanchez had to concede a
corner. Luckily, this time it was over-hit, Juve were starting
to lose their discipline, with dissent and players taking Tottenham
men out without going for the ball. With so much work being
put in by the home players, you wondered if they would have to make
substitutions to keep going for the 90 minutes. Spurs seemed to be
finding passes into pockets of space where runs were being made,
perhaps forcing Allegri to make his first change of Khedira going
off for Betancort - a midfielder off for a defender, who went into
midfield !!
A flurry of free-kicks being given by the referee interrupted the
flow of the game. One by Pjanic, swung in towards the goal,
was unchallenged and Hugo took the ball high above his head as it
bounced off the turf. One Spurs should have had was when Benatia
went through Kane from behind and the referee didn't even give a
free-kick, bottling the difficult decision against a home player
already on a yellow card. Kane almost caught Buffon out at his
near post with a low shot in the 70th minute that the keeper let
bounce away off his chest, just before Lamela played a ball into
Dele's feet on the edge of the D and he touched it off before
Chiellini blocked him off for another free-kick. Eriksen lined it up
and with the ball dead centre, Buffon thought the Dane was going
over the wall, but he fired it low to the keeper's right and the
ball hit the bottom corner of the net right on 71 minutes. It
was a superbly placed shot that was more than well deserved by
Tottenham, who were managing the game without allowing the home team
get after them.
Juve looked to play long, with the ball coming back, as Spurs were
three against one at the back, but when Dier's pass was intercepted
on the halfway line, the break came to Bernardeschi, who came inside
to hit a shot that flicked off Dier and Lloris was fortunate, as his
fall on the goal-line was where the ball ended up going and he was
safely behind it. Juve started to move the ball forward better
in the last ten minutes and won a couple of corners, the second of
which Benatia attacked and headed high over the bar. Tottenham
were not using the ball as well now, with long passes not finding a
man. It gave Costa the chance to attack Aurier and put a low ball in
with Higuain coming in, but Vertonghen slid in to knock the ball off
for a corner, just wide of the goal.
Pochettino brought Moura on for Lamela, who had given his all, so he
had a few minutes to show what he was about. We settled down a bit
and began knocking the ball about once more. Our new 25
million man had a little dart at the Juve defence, but couldn't find
a pass through to Kane. When the German ref blew the final
whistle, it was only the Tottenham section that could be heard, with
the team having scored twice against a side, who are as tight at the
back as any team in the country of clean sheets. Juve hadn't
previously let a goal in this year,
This season, Tottenham have shown how they have learned lessons from
last season in the Champions League, Pochettino has produced tactics
that are matching the best on the continent now and the players are
so confident in their own ability, even going two down in the first
ten minutes didn't phase them. In some ways this was a better result
than the one against Maicon's Inter. Not just because we didn't
lose, but the way we bossed the game. There were a couple of
performances that left a little to be desired, but the majority of
players put in big performances, making the result a reality and the
return at Wembley will be like a knock-out match. Four games that
would shape our season and four games unbeaten. Four games we have
mostly controlled and there is not just a maturity, but a supreme
belief in what they are doing. Poch has given them the game plan and
the belief to keep going, playing their own game and reducing a side
like Juventus to a ragged side, who looked to pump the ball forward
like Wimbledon.
How will Spurs approach the
second leg ? Well, much the same as the first, but without
letting two goals in at the start of the match. How will
Juventus approach the second leg ? They have to come out
and play a bit, as with two away goals, Spurs have an advantage, but
Allegri will no doubt try and lay a cannier trap for Tottenham.
His only problem is an ever lengthening injury list, making
selection a bit of a problem.
But to the Spurs the
plaudits. City might have won 4-0 away to Basel, but I think
this is a much more impressive performance. If we can
replicate it in the second leg, Kane's vision of him lifting the
trophy gets a step nearer.
Steve
Greenaway |
