GOOD DAY FOR PREMIER LEAGUE TEAMS
Tottenham defied ‘mission impossible’ on Tuesday by holding Barcelona and qualifying for the Champions League last 16 while Mohamed Salah scored the winner for Liverpool to help them advance as well. A look at how the two Premier League sides beat the odds: SALAH ON THE BALL Coming into the match,
Liverpool needed to win with a clean sheet or by a margin of at least two goals to advance into the last 16 of the Champions League and they managed to pip Napoli 1-0 in a nail-biting match at Anfield.
Their talismanic striker
Mohamed Salah again played an instrumental role in his team’s win beating Napoli custodian David Ospina at his near post in the 34th minute.
ALISSON MAGIC Liverpool’s Brazillian
goalkeeper Alisson Becker stood like a rock in front of their goalpost and made a crucial save from Arkadiusz Milik in the injury time to rescue them.
The 26-year-old, who came to
Anfield from Roma in July for a then world record fee for a goalkeeper of £66.8m, received special praise from manager Klopp who said, “If I knew Alisson was this good I would have paid double.”
SPURS FIGHT BACK Spurs needed to match Inter
Milan's result at home to PSV Eindhoven and they did just that as Lucas Moura's (right) 85th-minute equaliser saw them hold Barcelona 1-1 at the Camp Nou to progress to the knockout stages.
Spurs’ achievement seemed
improbable just a few weeks ago after they had taken just a single point from their opening three games. But then Spurs began their comeback with a win against PSV before a 1-0 win at home to Inter.
KANE INFLUENCE Harry Kane was denied by
the makeshift Barcelona defence when his header was cleared off the line. But he persevered and with time running out, his pinpoint cross found Moura whose first-time finish sealed Spurs' qualification.
It set up a dramatic finale
with Spurs players left to wait after the final whistle for the result to be confirmed between Inter and PSV.