Barcelona vs Tottenham: Lucas Moura’s late equaliser sees Spurs into Champions League last 16 at Camp Nou
Barcelona 1-1 Tottenham: Spurs looked to be out after Ousmane Dembele's stunning solo opener before Moura secured a famous, and deserved result
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Your support makes all the difference.Just when everyone was readying that well-worn phrase about this football club, Tottenham Hotspur pulled off an equaliser - and a result - that ensures only one word is now relevant: qualification.
The way it was secured scarcely matters, but it did involve some turnaround, and not just as regards this game or group. Also regards perceptions. Far from events somehow combining to once again see Tottenham Hotspur fail - and who didn’t expect a heart-breaking late Internazionale goal? - Mauricio Pochettino’s resilient side have improbably qualified for the Champions League last 16 after so many elements went their way.
They survived a horror error and start for a brilliant early Ousmane Dembele goal, Philippe Coutinho twice hitting the post as well as the introduction of Leo Messi, to come from behind - in both the game and the group - and claim the 1-1 draw that got them through. That they didn’t even require the win many expected would be necessary - due to Internazionale’s own surprising 1-1 draw with PSV Eindhoven - only added to the sense of fortune, but this wasn’t all about luck. Far from it. It was also about defiance and grit, as Spurs were the better side - admittedly against a largely second-string Barcelona - for so much of the game and were fine value for Lucas Moura’s brilliant late equaliser.
They held their nerve, something that was necessary even after their own game finished, as there was the sight of the Spurs bench watching events at the San Siro on their phones. Once the result was confirmed, though, they didn’t have to hold anything in any more. There was release, and relief, as the players celebrated looking up to the thousands of delirious Spurs fans in the stands high above.
Such sights were quite a contrast to the utterly dejected figure Pochettino looked after their own 2-2 draw away to PSV, when he just sat dejected on the bench. Now, they had achieved something that only a few weeks ago looked impossible.
Pochettino’s calculated decisions had once again paid off, with one big one in this game reflecting it.
That sense of grit and perseverance even applied to someone who initially looked like he would be having one of those horror nights that marks a career, as surprise starter Kyle Walker-Peters creditably recovered from a horror error to grow into the game and earn a reprieve of his own.
That was just something else that paid off, even if in an unexpected way.
It was all the more impressive because it actually would have been unimaginable from the first half.
“We trust in him, we believe in him,” the manager had said of Walker-Peters before the game, but it often looked like Walker-Peters didn’t trust or believe in himself, at least not here. This was the risk of playing such a young player in such a stadium, that he didn’t have the experience to get his head around it, to calm himself.
That was never clearer than for Dembele’s goal, as it came because Walker-Peters dallied on the ball and showed all of the uncertain hesitation of someone unsure of the situation.
There was no unsureness about Dembele. And certainly no hesitation. He ripped the ball off Walker-Peters, and then didn’t so much race at goal but be launched at it.
It could have been argued that Walker-Peters was just unlucky to come up against a player that fast at that moment, with that offering a caveat, but it was almost the opposite. It made it look worse, the sudden acceleration reflecting and emphasising a drastic escalation in quality the young full-back just couldn’t handle.
He wasn’t the only one, though.
Having genuinely taken the breath away with his speed, Dembele then took a clever touch back to send Harry Winks careering into the wrong place, before finishing finely past Hugo Lloris.
An even greater challenge for Spurs now, a disaster for the youngster. It was conspicuous that two of his teammates immediately went over to Walker-Peters to encourage him, but it didn’t initially help. He still just looked fearful, for a while only ever trying safe moves as there a few more missteps immediately after it.
It was both difficult to watch and to turn away, except for the fact this was one of those nights when you had to keep looking elsewhere. There was good news for Spurs and Walker-Peters just six minutes later, as Irving Lozano gave PSV Eindhoven the lead in Internazionale.
That helped Tottenham, but the game state didn’t.
They had a dilemma.
While Spurs naturally couldn’t rely on the PSV result and needed to score themselves, stepping up in any way just opened up the pitch for Dembele, but then there was also the enticement that the second-string Barcelona defence were so susceptible to pace themselves. Spurs were getting good opportunities pretty much any time Christian Eriksen threaded the ball inside the full-backs. Heung-Min Son should really have scored from one of them, but his touch brought him too close to Jasper Cillessen.
It was to Spurs’ credit, though, that they gradually let adventure outweigh caution. They went with it, and started to really cause Barcelona problems.
It was actually looking like a goal was coming, until the 63rd minute brought a sight no one wants when you’re already 1-0 down at Barcelona and need a result: Messi coming on.
It was perhaps just as well Walker-Peters had been taken off given Barcelona had been targeting him, but he had gained a foothold in the game, and was to offer an important moment. Just as Coutinho wound up for another of those belting shots that seemed certain to make it 2-0, the full-back got his body across to brilliantly block.
It was to prove crucial, especially since Inter - inevitably - equalised.
This was it. This was - yes - Spursy.
Until it wasn’t. Until it was something else.
A show of resilience, a great escape, call it what you will.
It was a key equaliser that represented one of the highlights of the Pochettino regime. That it came from a sub only emphasised how everything had just about paid off and been vindicated.
On 84 minutes, Lucas Moura brilliantly took his chance, converting a fine ball from Kane.
Spurs had done enough. They’d turned the group around, and maybe a few perceptions.
Whatever they are, or are supposed to embody, they are also again a Champions League last-16 team.
That is the fact that stands above anything else.
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