Moura strikes late to seal progress
NOBODY gave them a prayer. Not a hope. Not in football’s most daunting stadium.
But Tottenham somehow conjured up a quite brilliant battling display which put them into the Champions League knockout stages.
Supersub Lucas Moura struck in the 86th minute and it was no more than Mauricio Pochettino’s men deserved in a stadium which has seen so many English clubs collapse.
But with Inter Milan held to a draw by PSV Eindhoven it was enough to put Spurs into the last 16 when bigger teams would have simply crumbled and surrendered.
It was a huge result which was testament to their courage and resilience to leave the 5,000-strong army of away fans stuck up in the heavens celebrating wildly at full time.
They could barely believe it and nor could the players who hugged each other and danced in the centre circle as news of Inter slipping little more possible when Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde named his starting line-up.
With qualification already in the bag, he rested Messi, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba, although they were all substitutes – sitting on the most star-studded bench in football history.
The Catalans gave Champions League debuts to teenage left-back Juan Miranda and
20-year-old Carles Alena in midfield and suddenly the travelling fans must have thought they were in with a chance.
But that hope was quickly eroded after just seven minutes when Tottenham’s own rookie,
21-year-old right-back Kyle Walker-Peters, made a terrible error to let in Ousmane Dembele for a brilliant opening goal.
The England Under-21 defender was caught in possession in the centre circle and Dembele scorched forward.
His pace blew Tottenham away and the forward evaded Harry Winks’ last-ditch challenge before smashing past Lloris.
Denied
It was a disastrous start for Spurs but some redemption for bad-boy Dembele – the £135m star has gained the unwanted tag as the most fined player in Barcelona history for breaking club rules on timekeeping a number of times.
But from nowhere the visitors showed some real courage to come back at Barcelona.
They began to stretch the home defence and Danny Rose drilled in a cross which whistled just beyond Heung-Min Son before the South Korea forward went clean through only to be denied by Jasper Cillessen.
Tottenham refused to be overwhelmed by the occasion as they kept pushing forward in search of an equaliser with the balance of power in Group B on a knife edge.
Christian Eriksen’s curling 48th-minute shot forced a brilliant save from Cillessen and Son was again denied and maybe their growing confidence was the reason why Valverde turned to Messi in the 63rd minute.
It was beginning to look as if Tottenham were out of luck as first Messi hit the post and then Lucas was denied by Cillessen.
But Pochettino’s men have left it late before this season and they did it again when Kane cut in from the left, drilled a low cross and Lucas fired home from close range to seal his side’s progression.
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Cillessen; Semedo, Lenglet, Vermaelen, Miranda; Rakitic (Busquets 46), Alena, Arthur; Dembele (D Suarez 76), Munir (Messi 63), Coutinho. Subs: Ter Stegen, Pique, Alba, Vidal.
TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Walker-Peters (Lamela 61), Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Winks (Llorente 83), Sissoko; Eriksen, Alli, Son (Moura 71); Kane. Subs: Gazzaniga, Dier, Davies, Skipp.
Referee: Milorad Mazic (Serbia).