SEESAW SPURS
Two down early then Kane and Eriksen hit back
TOTTENHAM produced a heroic two-goal fightback to rescue their Champions League dream last night here against mighty Juventus.
Spurs were two down inside nine minutes courtesy of Gonzalo Higuain’s volley and a penalty, but Harry Kane’s clever run and finish pegged the Italian champions back.
Higuain smashed a second penalty against the bar before Christian Eriksen punished Juve with a free-kick to haul Spurs level.
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino said: ‘We showed great character.’
TOTTENHAM manager Mauricio Pochettino had spent the previous evening exchanging gifts and good wishes with those from the land of his fathers.
The mayor of Virle Piemonte was at the team hotel, bestowing upon Pochettino an honorary citizenship and handing over a framed aerial photograph of the small town, south-west of Turin.
The mayor’s deputy tagged along, too, and he was a Pochettino himself, by the name of Daniele and a distant relative of the clan which had set sail for new frontiers in 1867.
Pochettino spoke of his spiritual connection to a region he had never visited and gave them a signed copy of his book, which reflects his rural upbringing in Argentina, and a Spurs shirt.
When the game started against Juventus, the first competitive meeting between two famous clubs, it seemed as though his players had been infused by the same generosity of spirit.
Perhaps it was contagious. Gonzalo Higuain was awarded the freedom of the area for the first, an exquisite volley, followed by the gift of two first-half penalties.
Hugo Lloris might as well have handed over a sealed parchment entitling the bearers to a place in the quarter-finals as he went up for the coin toss.
Mistakes littered Tottenham’s game at the back as Juventus hustled and hassled and up front they missed chances as Pochettino paced around his technical area and refused to panic.
These were not the normal characteristics of the team he has been forging and yet this was unknown territory for his players. It is eight years since Tottenham’s last taste of Champions League knockout football.
Harry Kane was still at school when they beat AC Milan with a Peter Crouch goal in the San Siro and made it to the quarter-finals before losing to Real Madrid.
This time, they beat Real at Wembley to finish top of the group and found little comfort from the seeding as it paired them with Juventus, champions of Italy for the last six years.
Pochettino was thrilled to be heading for his ancestral home and agreed it was time for his team to face a different test. Not only against opponents of quality but in the unique pressures of European football at the business end of the campaign.
Tottenham swaggered into Turin in good form and high spirits but they froze once Juventus turned on the bright lights.
Within nine minutes Spurs were searching for two goals against a team which had conceded only once since the middle of November.
Juventus had them where they wanted them, defended deep, invited Spurs on and sought to strike on the break as they very nearly did. Higuain, having scored the first two, almost completed a hat-trick on the counter attack before Kane found a way past Gianluigi Buffon.
Pochettino, however, will have been pleased with the way his men responded with greater resistance after the interval. Of course, they rode their luck in a big way. Had Higuain buried that chance on the break, any hope of recovery would surely have been gone.
Similarly, it would if he had converted the second penalty, which the Argentine smashed against the bar at the end of the first half.
By this time Spurs were into a better rhythm, with Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli becoming more influential.
In fact, they opened up the Juventus with regularity and might have scored more. In the second half, they engaged with Juventus and were prepared to make it uglier.
Eriksen’s free-kick brought them level and, having survived a night they began atrociously, they can finish the job at Wembley.
And Pochettino emerged with his reputation enhanced on an emotional homecoming. Real Madrid already like his style. Maybe, now, Juventus will, too. He is after all, one of their own.