Lo Celso adds finishing touch as Spurs
TOTTENHAM ensured they finished top of Group J in the Europa League with a 2-0 win over Royal Antwerp.
Spurs needed to beat the Belgian side to finish at the summit and secure a seeding for the next stage, and second-half goals from Carlos Vinicius and
Giovani Lo Celso got the job done.
Jose Mourinho again saw his side produce a flat first-half performance, a key feature of their group campaign, but would have been happy with what he witnessed after the break.
Vinicius tapped in after Gareth Bale’s free-kick had been tipped onto the post and Lo Celso buried Antwerp with a cool finish with 20 minutes to go.
It means Spurs will get an opponent who finished in second place in Monday’s draw for the last 32, or one of the four unseeded sides who have dropped from the Champions League.
It would have been a much easier night had they taken one of two early chances.
First, Japhet Tanganga headed a free-kick just wide and then, when the referee bizarrely gave a corner, Bale glanced off target.
Instead they laboured and, after Mourinho claimed last week that some of his players
were not motivated to play in this competition, he looked to be proved right.
Spurs had their best moment just before the break as Lucas Moura played Vinicius through on goal, but the Brazilian was closed down by the keeper.
Bale had largely been anonymous as he struggles to return to the top of his game, but he rolled back the years to set up Tottenham’s opener.
The Wales international unleashed a swerving 35-yard free-kick that had Alireza Beiranvand in all sorts of problems, with the keeper fumbling onto the post and allowing Vinicius a simple tap-in.
That goal did not alter Mourinho’s plans of sending the big guns on and Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Tanguy Ndombele all entered the field.
The dynamic duo of Son and Kane could have killed the game with 25 minutes left as they both had good chances.
There was little surprise that Kane was involved in the goal that did send Spurs 2-0 up as in the 70th minute he rolled in Lo Celso, who neatly tucked the ball home.
Kane almost got on the scoresheet too, but shot off target.