Mourinho, ball boy inspire Spurs
Jose Mourinho is showing his old magic soccer touch in his early days at Tottenham.
The team is winning again. And its ball boys are proving to be as sharp as his players.
Tottenham marked Mourinho’s first home match in charge by coming from two goals down to beat Olympiakos 4-2 and reach the Champions League’s knockout stage with a game to spare. Real Madrid and Manchester City also qualified Tuesday, without having to win their home matches.
But it was Mourinho, back in the competition where he made his name 15 years ago as a surprise title-winner with Porto, hogging the limelight once again. He reacted to Spurs going 2-0 behind after 19 minutes by making an early substitution, bringing on out-of-favour playmaker Christian Eriksen, who helped turn the game.
Then, after the quick thinking of a ball boy proved vital in the build-up to Harry Kane’s tying goal early in the second half,
Mourinho went up to the young lad and gave him a hug.
The ball boy had rushed forward to help Serge Aurier send a snappy throw-in to Lucas Moura, who crossed for Kane to convert.
This win came three days after Mourinho began his tenure at the north London club with a 3-2 win at West Ham, Tottenham’s first away victory in the Premier League in 11 months. Bigger tests will come for Mourinho and
Spurs, in both competitions, but they couldn’t ask for much more than a pair of wins and qualification for the Champions League knockouts in his first week in charge.
There are now six teams into the last 16, with Paris-SaintGermain, Bayern Munich and Juventus having already secured progress after four group games.
Two more heavyweights, in City and Madrid, joined them despite being held to home draws.
City guaranteed topping Group C with a 1-1 draw against Shakhtar and could yet play Madrid in the last 16, with the 13-time European champions squandering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with PSG and ensure a second-place finish in Group A.
The biggest winner Tuesday was Bayern, whose striker Robert Lewandowski scored four goals in 15 minutes in a 6-0 win at Red Star Belgrade. The best goal was scored by Paulo Dybala, whose free kick from near the byline kissed the crossbar before crashing into the net to seal Juventus’ 1-0 win against Atletico Madrid.