With zero protection and a Spurs side revelling in the perfect confidence-boosting opportunity, Borjan was subjected to wave after wave of second-half offensives.
Lamela had already missed a sitter before making amends with Spurs’ fourth before the hour was up.
That they did not run up the sort of total Bayern Munich did here was down to some unusually erroneous option-taking from Son – giving to Lamela’s wrong foot rather than any of Kane’s feet – and some wayward finishing.
Not from Kane, naturally. When he finally got the pass he longed for, the outcome was inevitable – a crisp finish making it 15 goals for Spurs and England this term.
Strange as it may be to say, Kane’s game is in longer just about the goals. It is about leadership, it is about workrate, it is about vision, it is about inspiration.
And that, Roy Keane, is why Harry Kane is priceless. thanks to an equaliser from Brazilian Dodo in a match where the Ukrainians had led.
Yevheniy Konoplyanka fired Shakhtar ahead but the Croatian levelled nine minutes later through Dani Olmo.
Mislav Orsic then gave Dinamo the lead on the hour from a penalty, but substitute Dodo salvaged a point.
Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick helped Paris Saint-germain make it three wins from three in Group A with a 5-0 away thrashing of Club Bruges.
Mauro Icardi opened the scoring and Mbappe doubled the lead with a second-half header. Two minutes later he turned provider as Icardi scored his second, before adding a further two to complete his treble.
Bayern Munich survived a scare in Group B with a 3-2 victory over Olympiakos.
Youssef El-arabi’s header put the Greeks ahead, before Robert Lewandowski levelled.
Lewandowski made it 2-1 in the 62nd minute but Corentin Tolisso equalised with 15 minutes remaining. Four minutes later, however, Guilherme scored the winner.
IT IS going to take more than a new diet. You can cut out all the sugar, cram in as much high-protein stuff, drink all the water and get into all the bendy yoga positions in the world. But you still have to produce it on the pitch.
Of course, it is early days in Dele Alli’s attempt to get his career back on track after a miserable 18 months. That late equaliser against Watford at White Hart Lane looked like it might just have been the spark he needed.
Tottenham did at last get their Champions League campaign up and running last night against a hapless
Red Star. Alli? Not quite so much.
This game needed to be another stepping stone for the midfielder.
And it could hardly have come against more accommodating opposition.
Picked ahead of Christian Eriksen (above) as Spurs attempted to put the trauma of the 7-2 home humbling by Bayern Munich behind them, it seemed as if Mauricio Pochettino was giving his England man another chance to play himself into form.
Alli (top) certainly buzzed about energetically and made plenty of runs. But where once those runs carved opponents apart, now they seem aimless, too often missed by his team-mates.
Alli, ignored by England by last week against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, has engaged a nutritionist in a bid to help solve the hamstring injuries that have plagued him and he has cut back on all the commercial stuff.
Last night there were some neat touches, but too often the ball would simply not drop for him. The diet is fine. The wait for the spark? That goes on. before last night and a 7-2 hammering by Bayern Munich three weeks ago.
But after Kane and Heung-min Son (left) scored twice, with Erik Lamela also on target, the crisis around last year’s finalists seemed to have eased – for now.
Spurs, who went into this game with only three wins from their last 12 games, were ahead early through Kane’s glancing header. Son put them firmly in command with two first half goals, a halfvolley and then an expert finish when former Chelsea midfielder Marko Marin blundered.
Red Star rarely troubled the home defence and Lamela added a fourth goal with a neat turn before Kane slid home the fifth.
Spurs should have had more, but it was a desperately-needed win for Pochettino’s men, who have a Premier League date at Liverpool on Sunday.