Like heavyweight boxers, Spurs and Liverpool traded blows relentlessly

Paul Tierney had a game to forget, but his erratic refereeing made this all the more memorable as a spectacle.

Liverpool's Andrew Robertson (left) scores their side's second goal of the game during the Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London. Picture: Adam Davy/PA Wire. 

Super Sunday does not always live up to the hype, but a Christmas cracker at Tottenham reminded us what a thrilling distraction football can be.

These isles may be in the grip of another grim wave of Covid-19, but for two hours on Sunday afternoon, the lucky few inside the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, and the millions watching on TV, were treated to a game that had just about everything - thrills, spills, goals and controversy.

This was what we had hoped for when two of the most exciting teams in Europe faced off in the Champions League final two and a half years ago. On that balmy night in Madrid, a three-week hiatus after the end of the season robbed both sides of momentum and meant neither could regain the intensity of their form from earlier in the season.

But no-one could complain about a lack of intensity, action, drama and excitement on Sunday afternoon. At the final whistle, supporters throughout this futuristic stadium stood to pay tribute to two sets of warriors who went at each other with real intent from the beginning and never eased up. Like heavyweight boxers, they traded blows relentlessly, went toe to toe at times, and needed to get up when they were floored. It would have been an injustice if referee Paul Tierney had raised the arm of either captain in victory at the end of a pulsating bout.

Deep into stoppage time, both teams were still going for a winning goal, even though Liverpool had to play out the final 20 minutes with ten men, after Andy Robertson was sent off for a wild hack at Emerson Royal.

The Liverpool left-back might have felt aggrieved that Harry Kane had escaped with only a yellow card for a sliding challenge on him in the first half, or maybe the Scot just got caught up in the emotion of it all.

It was hard not to, after all. This must go down as a front-runner for game of the season. Older fans may remember the good old days from the 60s, when teams would face each other at home on Christmas Day, with the return on St Stephen's Day. It led to crazy scorelines – 6-4 one day, 5-5 the next. It would not have been out of this place if this game had ended with ten goals, so frenetic was it from the start, when Robertson put a free header wide in the second minute.

Spurs could reasonably have been 4-1 ahead within half-an-hour, but for some wayward finishing and smart saves from Alisson. That was the scoreline when the teams met at Wembley four years ago, and prompted Jurgen Klopp to sign Alisson and Virgil Van Dijk, transforming the Reds into European and Premier League champions over the next two years.

Van Dijk was absent yesterday, one of a trio of Reds suffering from Covid. Klopp's side foolishly tried to play the same way they do when the big Dutchman is in the heart of their defence, and it almost cost them dear, as Spurs carved them open time and time again.

Antonio Conte has steadied a sinking ship since taking over at Tottenham, and perhaps the most surprising thing is how he has transformed players that most Spurs fans would happily have seen sold a few months ago. Some of the former whipping boys held the whip hand against Liverpool, with Eric Dier, Ben Davies and Davinson Sanchez imperious in defence, Harry Winks a driving force in midfield, and even Dele Alli coming in from the cold to show the sort of swagger that made him one of Europe's most exciting young players a few seasons ago. Alli felt he should have had a penalty when Trent Alexander-Arnold pushed him over when he was through on goal, but the Reds could have had a spot-kick of their own when Emerson slid in on Diogo Jota as he was about to shoot.

Tierney had a game to forget, but his erratic refereeing made this all the more memorable as a spectacle. Kane opened the scoring to silence his doubters, but then missed a couple of sitters that would have seen Spurs home comfortably. Jota equalised with a superb header, and Robertson put them ahead while Spurs were still appealing for a penalty. Heung Min Son, also guilty of a couple of misses, restored parity when he seized on a howler from Alisson, who had kept Liverpool in the game with a string of superb saves. Hugo Lloris had been almost as busy at the opposite end, and but for those two top-class goalkeepers, we might have had another festive goalfest.

In the end it was two goals apiece, a point each and, as the old cliché goes, football was the winner.