Christian Eriksen ensures Tottenham bring fight to Barcelona
Tottenham’s improbable Champions League dream is still on after substitute Christian Eriksen scored a dramatic 80th-minute winner against Inter to give Spurs two huge wins already in the week which could define their season — with Arsenal next up on Sunday.
Spurs, who began the week by beating Chelsea 3-1, returned to their temporary home to produce a result which, against the odds, keeps alive hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages in Europe after a miserable start to their campaign in Group B.
The result moves them up to second place, level on points with Inter, with qualification assured if they can produce an historic win in the Nou Camp.
Eriksen looking forward to a "fun game" at Barcelona! No pressure!#beINUCL pic.twitter.com/Isf2nBGuau
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) November 28, 2018
A pipe dream? Not really when you consider Barca are already through and guaranteed top spot no matter what the result. it’s a sign, too, of how far Spurs have come in recent seasons that the crowd at England’s national season believed it could happen, even at 0-0 with 10 minutes to go, and that Eriksen subsequently kept it alive.
What an opportunity Maurcio Pochettino’s side now have to make history because it’s fair to say they began this Champions League league rather tentatively, if not disastrously.
“It’s tough to play out there, the pitch ain’t great but we’re getting used to it game by game,” Harry Kane said.
“We played well though, we played out from the back, through the lines, and we could have got a couple in the first half. The clean sheet was massive and thankfully we got the goal.
“We will go all guns blazing now. It will be tough, but it is all to play for.”
"All is possible if you try!"
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) November 28, 2018
Pochettino believes! #beINUCL pic.twitter.com/NR602mHwwp
An early defeat in Milan, a draw in Holland against PSV and a 4-2 humiliation at home to Barca suggested they were heading for the Europa League at very best. But then, out of the blue, a home victory over PSV — achieved thanks to two late goals from Kane when they had looked dead and buried — gave Pochettino’s side a ray of hope. The kind that reels you in and opens you up to pain or glory.
Of those two possibilities, pain was always favourite. But what gave Tottenham fans hope, was memories of last weekend’s outstanding victory over Chelsea at Wembley in which their team finally hit top form and proved themselves title contenders.
Recreating that display against a canny and experienced Inter team was a challenge and one which for long periods looked frustratingly difficult; but Eriksen is a special player for a special occasion and he kept the dream alive with a wonderful sweeping finish following a Moussa Sissoko break and a neat touch from Dele Alli.
Before kick-off there had been a minor blip in Spurs’ terrific week when the club admitted defender Juan Foyth, who has become a regular in recent weeks, could not be selected because the 20-year-old wasn’t named in their Champions League squad at the start of the campaign. Pochettino described that scenario as ‘a mistake that we cannot repeat” but in reality bringing in the experience of Vertonghen instead was never going to be a major problem, and the Belgian was a key performer.
For a game that Spurs simply had to win to stand any chance of progression, however, the Spurs manager surprisingly left Eriksen and in-form Heung-Min Son on the bench, perhaps with one eye on this weekend’s crucial north London derby at the Emirates — but the decision actually worked in his favour with both making meaningful contributions from the bench.
His team started strongly with Kane seeing a cross-shot deflected onto the post and a penalty claim (albeit a rather optimistic one) when Lucas Moura went down under a challenge from Marquinhos.
There was also an excellent opportunity for Lucas following a lung-busting break from Sissoko, but his shot was easy for Inter goalkeeper Handanovic, before Winks hit the crossbar with a curling effort from distance.
By contrast, Inter, content to defend rather than attack, rarely threatened and looked like a team which needed only a point to qualify — and knew exactly how to do it.
Manager Luciano Spalletti had made four changes from the team that won 3-0 at home to Frosinon at the weekend, bringing back Ivan Perisic, Marcelo Brozovic, Matias Vecino and Mauro Icardi (the striker who scored a late winner against Spurs in Milan in September).
But after losing influential Radja Nainggolan to injury in the first half his side played a cagey game, waiting for Spurs to over-commit.
A major plus-point for Spurs was the ever-improving form of Sissoko who is finally beginning to show the form that made him a hero at Newcastle and for France in Euro 2016. His pace and power on the break were always a threat and he played a crucial part in the winning goal after 80 minutes.
That was just as well because with Kane strangely quiet it was important for Tottenham to show they could win big games without his name on the scoresheet. This is a player, of course, who has scored 13 goals and provided two assists in just 14 Champions League games prior to this one — but on this occasion, there were others who stood up instead.
That’s bad news for revitalised Arsenal, who host Spurs on Sunday, not least because Kane rarely goes two big games without finding the net — but primarily because this is now a Tottenham team which truly believes it is good enough to win against anyone.
That belief will be tested to the full in Barcelona on December 11. But who's to say it couldn’t happen?
Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies, Winks (Dier 87), Sissoko, Lamela (Eriksen 70), Dele, Lucas (Son 62), Kane.
Gazzaniga, Llorente, Rose, Walker-Peters.
Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, De Vrij, Skriniar, Asamoah, Vecino, Brozovic, Politano (Balde 83), Nainggolan (Borja Valero 44), Perisic, Icardi.
Padelli, Miranda, Martinez, Candreva, Ranocchia.
Cuneyt Cakir.
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