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.
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.