Tottenham storms back to double up Olympiakos
LONDON Jose Mourinho’s first home game as Tottenham Hotspur manager suffered a false start, but ended in victory as his side recovered a two-goal deficit Tuesday to beat Olympiakos Piraeus 4-2 to reach the Champions League round of 16.
Olympiakos, bottom of Group B, stunned the hosts with goals by Youssef El Arabi and Ruben Sabedo inside the opening 20 minutes, but Tottenham responded to sweep the Greeks aside.
Dele Alli’s goal at the stroke of halftime proved crucial and two goals from Harry Kane and one from Serge Aurier after the break made sure Spurs will finish runners-up in the group.
Six days after Mourinho was hired following the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino, the Portuguese two-time Champions League winner has already won two games.
Olympiakos took the lead in the fifth minute when Danny Rose’s attempted clearance was gathered by El Arabi and the Moroccan cut in from the right before sending a fizzing low drive from 25 metres past Paulo Gazzaniga.
In the 19th minute Portuguese centre-back Sabedo poked one home from a corner to make it 2-0.
Mourinho’s patience ran out and he sent on Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen for holding midfielder Eric Dier.
There was no immediate improvement, but Alli halved the deficit at the stroke of halftime with a tap-in after defender Yassine Meriah swung and missed on a clearance.
Five minutes after halftime, Tottenham was level as Lucas Moura cut the ball back for Kane to fire home.
“It was a disappointing start, we know we didn’t come out with any energy. They got the early goal and then got the second and it was uphill from there,” Kane said. “The goal just before halftime changed the momentum. We knew we couldn’t play any worse than we did in the first half.”
The Spurs went ahead in the 73rd minute when Aurier connected sweetly to thrash home a right-footed volley from an angle.
Kane effectively sealed the points five minutes later when he headed in Eriksen’s dangerous delivery.
D with one match left. Atletico Madrid is left on seven points after its second successive defeat in the group.
“We are often criticized for playing badly and winning, but this time we played well and didn’t win,” said midfielder Koke.
Cristiano Ronaldo, troubled recently by a knee problem, had a quiet game, avoided taking any free kicks and hurt himself when he kicked the corner flag trying to keep the ball in play, but did not appear to suffer an injury.
Atletico continued to carve out chances after halftime, but Matthijs de Ligt held the Juventus defence together.