Match Report: Barcelona 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur progressed to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League with a 1-1 draw against Barcelona at Camp Nou on Tuesday night.
Spurs went into the game knowing that they would only need to match Inter Milan’s result against PSV Eindhoven to make it to the knockout stages and in the end, a 1-1 draw was enough to see them through as Inter were also held to a 1-1 draw at home by the Dutch champions.
Pinching a point against Barcelona away from home was always going to be a daunting task and Mauricio Pochettino’s men had the worst possible start to the game. Kyle Walker-Peters, who was making his Champions League debut in place of the injured Kieran Trippier, gave the ball away cheaply and Ousmane Dembele made him pay for his mistake.
The Frenchman outpaced Walker-Peters and left both the youngster and a diving Harry WInks for dead with a subtle change of direction to guide the ball with ease past Hugo Lloris, putting the home side in the driver’s seat just 7 minutes into the game.
Heung-min Son had a golden opportunity to draw level for the Lilywhites after the Korean used his pace to get in behind the backline but his effort was kept out by Jasper Cillessen.
Barcelona could have made it 2-0 before the break, Phillippe Coutinho’s effort scraping the outside of the post after the Brazilian created space for himself with some lovely close control.
Spurs started the second half on a bright note and Christian Eriksen was played in behind the backline but Cillessen once again came to Barcelona’s rescue. Minutes later, Harry Kane got away from Clement Lenglet but fired his shot high and wide.
With Spurs trailing 1-0, Mauricio Pochettino rung the changes, bringing on the likes of Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela and it was the substitutes who turned things around for the Lilywhites. Moura got on the end of Moussa Sissoko’s ball in from the right, forcing another wonderful save from Cillessen before firing the rebound wide of the mark.
However, Spurs found the breakthrough with 5 minutes remaining. Erik Lamela set Harry Kane free down the left and the Englishman’s inch-perfect cross found Lucas Moura who made no mistake from close range to restore parity.
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Tottenham always knew that they were in with a chance as Inter trailed for the majority of the game through Hirving Lozano’s early strike but Mauro Icardi’s 73rd-minute goal would definitely have set the cat amongst the pigeons.
It was a successful night for the English teams in the Champions League as Liverpool also managed to make it to the knockout rounds with a 1-0 win over Napoli at Anfield.
Fan Tweets
Arsenal and Chelsea fans right now deleting their “Spurs Europa League” tweets. Back in your box lads! #COYS #BARTOT pic.twitter.com/vMD2fX1vjp
— Stuart Longley (@stuartmlongley) December 11, 2018
FT: @FCBarcelona 1 – 1 @SpursOfficial
WE’RE THROUGH!!!! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
Could it be that this @TfL billboard won’t turn out to be false advertising after all? 😉 🤞🏼
Well done lads! #COYS #BARTOT #COYS
(Thanks to @PSV too! We owe you a beer lads!) pic.twitter.com/04u64ID0dA
— Armed Forces Spurs (Official Supporters Club) (@UK_Forces_Spurs) December 11, 2018
Never seen scenes like when Spurs equalised… Until we found out we were through! What a night!#COYS #THFC #BARTOT pic.twitter.com/u6HStPf0TJ
— Ashley (@ashcporter) December 11, 2018
So proud of this team. 👏 ⚽️ #BARTOT #COYS https://t.co/QxwAbCb484
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) December 11, 2018
10 mins after full-time, Pochettino re-emerges & strides across the pitch. Looks up to the #thfc fans, applauds them and the noise is absolutely deafening. What a manager. His changes, his instilling of belief, driving Spurs onwards & upwards. Huge result for Poch & Spurs #BARTOT
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) December 11, 2018
Dominated them.#THFC @ChrisCowlin @spursofficial #Tottenham pic.twitter.com/R1vLrLL2RE
— Tony Davies (@daviesa338) December 11, 2018
This is without any doubt one of the best performances of a foreign team in the Camp Nou for many many years. Struggling to remember a team that was so good in so many ways here pic.twitter.com/GVwKVTbTP4
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) December 11, 2018
Yes yes yes Baby!!@LucasMoura7 off the bench for the equilizer againat Barca!!
Round of 16!!!! Go you @SpursOfficial #TottenhamBarca #byebyemilano@GeorgesLaraque @Donjuicy @St13_Giroux @Olivier_Brett— Yohann BENARROCH (@BenarrochYohann) December 11, 2018
Absolutely fantastic performance @SpursOfficial deserved point (if not all 3) and deserved qualification. Very squeaky bum though. Huge thanks to @psveindhoven #COYS #BARTOT #PSV #TottenhamBarca #tottenhamhotspurfc
— Marc Edwards (@marcedwardstv) December 11, 2018
