HUGO’S BOSS IN BERNABEU
Real Madrid 1 Tottenham 1
A FEW might have come for the Harry show, instead they got the Hugo version.
If any one player could be key to Tottenham’s chances of going deep into the Champions League, it might well be Lloris rather than Kane. They already have a lot to thank him for. While Kane let a juicy late chance go begging, Lloris pulled off a couple of stunning second-half saves to earn Spurs a crucial point. One of those stops was from Cristiano Ronaldo, who was on fantastically histrionic form from the first whistle. It is almost reassuring to find age not tempering Ronaldo’s tantrums, his early hissy-fit prompted either by his handsome header against the upright, or by the shocking waste of the rebound opportunity by Karim Benzema. Or, more likely, both. The hands-on-head moments arrived with predictable frequency, that familiar tearful look accompanying another narrow squeak. And the histrionics reached fever pitch when Jan Vertonghen made the most of a minor spot of wrestling and Ronaldo was booked. That might well have been a product of his frustration at seeing Spurs scramble their way into the lead. There was nothing scruffy about the build-up, Serge Aurier’s break and cross bursting with threat but, when Harry Kane’s ambitious attempt at a flicked finish failed, Raphael Varane was powerless to stop his limb lifting it past Keylor Navas. Kane also looked a boot offside but, at the risk of being carried away by the prevailing mood, his role in the breakthrough was clearly crucial. The vast majority of his runs are intelligent and this was no different, stealing a march on an accomplished defender and generating the costly mistake. This was not exactly an audition for Kane. If Real Madrid do get serious about him, it will be a judgement made over a wider body of work and, most likely, on his showing at the World Cup. Real Madrid love to take a player who has had a good World Cup. But while the Kane chatter amongst the Madrid locals will hardly be frenzied, he did nothing here that would diminish whatever level of interest they currently have. Not even that late miss – Navas getting a
fingertip to his placed effort – significantly marred his decent performance. His aggression was controlled and, while he might have done better with a header from a Christian Eriksen corner, his determination to win it was impressive. He also benefited from the contrast with Benzema, who followed up his early scuffed miss with a headed mistake that had Ronaldo huffing again. Benzema did, though, play a part in Ronaldo’s equaliser, his final pass giving Toni Kroos a free charge towards Lloris – that was until Aurier rashly slid in. Kroos waited for contact and it was as routine a decision for referee Szymon Marciniak as it was a task for Ronaldo to tuck away the penalty. Ronaldo’s 10th goal against English opposition in the Champions League lifted Real to levels that verged on the familiar, although the man himself was guilty of a half-volleyed miss that rivalled yet another from Benzema. Despite these lapses, Real began to look themselves and they should remain the overall favourites for this competition. Coming into this match, they had gone 29 Champions League group games unbeaten, their last defeat coming at the hands of Borussia Dortmund five years ago. They have now made it 30 but could not find a way past an inspired Lloris to force victory. And while they might have been hanging on a little towards the end, Kane did have that opportunity to put them back ahead with less than 20 minutes to go. Instead, it was left to Lloris to stand tall. It was meant to be all about Harry but Hugo was the boss.