TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3 (3) | EINTRACHT FRANKFURT 2 (1) |
Date : – Wednesday 12th October 2022 | Kick off : – 20.00 |
Competition : – Champions League Group D | Venue : – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium |
Crowd : – 55,180 |
Referee : – Carlos del Cerro Grande (SPA) | Linesmen : – Diego Barbero (SPA); Guadalupe Porras Ayuso (SPA) |
Fourth official : – Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez (SPA) | |
VAR official : – Juan Martinez Munuera (SPA) | VAR Assistant : – Tiago Martins (POR) |
Weather : – Mild, dry | |
Frankfurt kicked off the first half attacking the Park Lane end | |
Playing time : – 90 + 8 minutes |
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | EINTRACHT FRANKFURT | ||
GOAL-SCORERS | |||
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Son 19m 03s | ![]() |
Kamada 13m 26s |
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Kane (p) 27m 14s | ![]() |
Alidou 86m 29s |
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Son 35m 26s | ||
CARDS | |||
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Dier (foul on Muani) 12 | ![]() |
Tuta (foul on Son) 57 |
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Bentancur (foul on Rode) 40 | ![]() |
Hasebe (foul on Kane) 60 |
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Sessegnon (foul on Ebimbe) 84 | ![]() |
Smolcic (foul on Bryan) 90+1 |
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Tuta (second yellow – foul on Son) 59 |
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | EINTRACHT FRANKFURT | ||
1. | Hugo LLORIS (c) | 1. | Kevin TRAPP |
17. | Cristian ROMERO | 35. | TUTA ![]() ![]() |
15. | Eric DIER ![]() |
20. | Makoto HASEBE ![]() |
34. | Clement LENGLET | 2. | Evan N’DICKA |
12. | Emerson ROYAL | 6. | Kristijan JAKIC |
5. | Pierre-Emile HOJBJERG ![]() |
17. | Sebastian RODE (c) ( 5. Harvoje SMOLCIC 70 ![]() |
30. | Rodrigo BENTACUR ![]() |
8. | Djibril SOW |
19. | Ryan SESSEGNON ![]() |
25. | Christopher LENZ ( 11. Faride ALIDOU ![]() |
9. | RICHARLISON ( 4. Oliver SKIPP 67) | 29. | Jesper LINDSTROM |
10. | Harry KANE ![]() ![]() |
15. | Daichi KAMADA ![]() |
7. | Heung-Min SON ![]() ![]() |
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9. | Randal Kolo MUANI ( 19. Rafael BORRE 69) | ||
Substitutes | Substitutes | ||
20. | Fraser FORSTER | 31. | Jens GRAHL |
24. | Djed SPENCE | 40. | Diant RAMAJ |
33. | Ben DAVIES | –21. | Lucas ALARIO |
2. | Matt DOHERTY | 22. | Timothy CHANDLER |
29. | Pape Matar SARR | – | – |
42. | Harvey WHITE | – | – |
14. | Ivan PERISIC | – | – |
= Assist
= Goal scored
= Own goal scored
Manager : – Antonio Conte | Manager : – Oliver Glasner |
Kit Supplier : – Nike | Kit Supplier : – Nike |
Shirt Sponsor : – AIA | Shirt Sponsor : – Indeed |
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – cinch | Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – Joka |
Colours : –![]() |
Colours : –![]() |
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website | |
MATCH REPORT |
With a man sent off for Eintracht Frankfurt, Spurs made heavy weather of beating the Bundesliga side 3-2, with a late effort by the Germans just failing to grab a draw. With Harry Kane missing a penalty and another Frankfurt player somehow escaping a second yellow to reduce them to nine men, it was an eventful evening, but all done in the Tottenham Way by making it difficult for themselves.
As results have gone in odd ways in this group, Spurs sat second going into the game, with Sporting Lisbon playing at home to Marseille on the night, having lost to the French side last week. A win would put Tottenham in a good position, but the same was true for Frankfurt, which would have put them in a good position too. Letting in a goal within 14 minutes of the start wasn’t in the Spurs plans I imagine. Trying to play the ball out from the back, Spurs had already experienced problems with the opposition press and the lack of options for a pass for the Tottenham player in possession. When Romero played the ball across the area to Eric Dier, he was looking who to pass the ball to when he took a heavy touch that allowed Kamada to fire the ball into an unguarded net. Although the Tottenham fans had been in good voice at the start of the game, the groans from the majority of the ground were in stark contrast to the noise coming from the Eintracht section, where they continued twirl or hold their scarves aloft to celebrate their goal. Before their goal Frankfurt had a couple of chances, with Sow shooting just wide and Kamada some way off getting on the end of a low cross from their right wing. Making a mountain to climb, seems to be the way we play sometimes, with going a goal down before we start to play. The lead didn’t last too long before Harry Kane slipped a pass from halfway inside the Frankfurt half through for Son to run onto it and faced with Trapp, he slid the ball past the keeper’s right side with his right foot to find the bottom corner to equalise. Gone were his early season drought worries and it was a confident piece of finishing. It was good to see the Kane-Son partnership bearing fruit again. It was all getting a bit frenetic, with Son being blocked off in the box by Kamada and play being waved on until a free-kick was given on the right side, five yards out from the corner of the box. When VAR had denied a penalty, Kane stepped up to take the dead-ball kick and fired it way over the bar. If we had a player who could score from free-kicks, we would be more difficult to beat. Ironically, with Frankfurt free-kicks, Spurs were playing a very high line. It nearly cost us when Kamada swung in one from the left and Bentancur headed it out, but it hit the retreating Hojbjerg on the back of the head and luckily went off for a corner rather than anywhere we didn’t want it to go. Spurs were finding the gaps to get through the visiting defence and when Kane wriggled his way into the penalty area and went down, play went on, but when it stopped, the referee stuck his finger in his ear and ran over to the TV at the side of the pitch. After a couple of looks, he pointed to the spot and Harry took the ball and planted it low and just out of the keeper’s reach as he dived to his right. It was a quick turnaround and a coolly taken penalty by our striker. Hugo was alert to Lindstrom’s low shot into the near post from the right, when he hit it early and it might have caught Lloris by surprise, but Son kept Trapp keen with a shot from the left that the keeper had to push aside. It didn’t stop him for long. There looked to be a foul on a Spurs player, but the ref waved play on, as Spurs had possession. Hojbjerg drove to the dead-ball line on the right to pick out a cross to a point beyond the far post where Heung-Min Son was waiting 12 yards out to smash a volley with his left foot that left the keeper and a defender on the line unable to move as it flew off his boot with such power. It caused the Spurs support to erupt with noise and it will be a goal that will stay with those there (and those watching on TV) for a long time. Just before half-time, there was nearly a hat-trick goal for Son as Sessegnon sent him away and he put a low shot across Trapp from the left, but the keeper kept it out with his boot. Spurs came even closer to a fourth in added time, as a corner was worked between Son and Emerson Royal, with a cross that Cristian Romero won and headed down towards the keeper’s right hand post, where he saved it low down. With so much action taking place during the first half, it is surprising that so few fans managed to make it back for the start of the second. Many would have missed what could have been the goal that made it 4-2, as Richarlison out-stripped N’Dicka on the right wing and pout a ball into the middle of the goal. Sessegnon raced in and under pressure got a shot on target, but Trapp had closed him down to stop his shot. N’Dicka had been kicking Richarlison and Kane for most of the first half and it was a surprise when Tuta became the first Frankfurt player to receive a yellow card for a foul on Son out on our left wing. The Korean got up to take the free-kick and forced a save from Trapp and when the ball was cleared, Royal hooked the ball back into the box, but there was no white shirt there on the end of it. However, Trapp misjudged the bounce and had to hurry to keep the ball out of the top left corner of his net, almost crashing into the post as he made the stop. Within a couple of minutes, Richarlison won the ball near our right back position and played a ball to halfway down the line to Kane. With Hasebe in close attendance, Harry turned the ball across the pitch for Son to run onto and take on Tuta. The defender got there first, but Son’ took the ball from him, turned inside for a run on goal, but Tuta pulled his shirt and held him back around his hips and the referee pulled a yellow card out. It took some time for it to sink in after Spurs players had informed him and he probably got it in his ear from VAR that this was Tuta’s second yellow, so he produced the red card a while after his confusion. He also showed a yellow card for Hasebe, who had been lauded in the first game for his performance as a 38 year old, but his late foul on Kane in the build-up was dangerous. After the furore, a short free-kick was tapped to Son, who drove in a low shot that the keeper dived to save at the foot of his right hand post at the expense of a corner. Within a couple of minutes Hasebe’s age was telling and made him look like more of a has-been, as he first went through Kane from behind and then brought down Son as he drifted past him. Despite protests from the Spurs players, the referee looked reluctant to pull out another second yellow. Hasebe did leave the field, but only to be substituted as he injured himself in the foul, but Skipp and Bissouma came on to take the place of Richarlison and Bentancur before Dier took the free-kick and it would have hit the top corner had a defender in the wall not deflected it wide for a corner with his head. Frankfurt were playing seemingly without missing the sent off player and Hugo produced a wonderful stretching tip over when Lindstrom let go a shot from 25 yards out that was aimed at the top right corner of Lloris’ goal. Sow then drove a low shot that went wide of the goal to Hugo’s right by a couple of feet and when the visitors got a free-kick after Sessegnon’s foul was yellow-carded, World Cup winner Mario Gotze could only put it wide. Another substitute Rafael Borre tested Lloris at his near post with a shot from the left side of the box, conceding a corner which Gotze took and Alidou climbed highest to head in to make the score 3-2 three minutes from time. So just when everything looked comfortable, it suddenly became a lot more worrying. Conte had brought Moura on for Son and Bryan Gil on for Hojbjerg in a swap that looked a little mis-guided, but Bryan won a header and then the ball from an Eintracht player, knocking it forward to Kane who was halfway inside his own half. Harry turned the ball round the corner and over the defenders for Bryan to run onto. His pace beat three players to it, but he over-ran the ball and Alidou recovered to take possession, knocking the Spanish youngster over in the process. The referee said he had won the ball, but Jakic’s lazy back-heel was picked up by Bryan, who had got up and he ran at Smolcic, taking him inside, before moving the ball to his right and the defender hung out a leg to topple the Spurs winger over by catching him on the knee. Jakic got a yellow card and Spurs got a penalty seconds into added time. A chance to put the game to bed, Harry stepped up and blazed the ball way, way over the bar. Usually so reliable from the spot, maybe having taken the first penalty played on his mind and he was aiming for the top of the net to the keeper’s right, but over-cooked it. Three minutes of added time remained. Nerves jangled when Alidou shot from just outside the box, low through Bissouma’s legs, but Hugo got down to his left to get his body behind it as the ball flew along the turf. It was an unnecessary end to a match that Tottenham had more than enough chances to wrap up before it got anywhere near the end. How N’Dicka got away without getting even a yellow card before Tuta got sent off I will never know, while Hasebe should have been dismissed too, so Frankfurt got away with it to a certain extent. They showed a bit more attacking intent, probably realising we would do the same and open up the game, which was the case in the early stages when we found it difficult to play around the press. That lead to the opening goal, but Tottenham did recover well and our attacking play in the first half troubled the Frankfurt defence with the speed of our forwards. Away in Lisbon, Sporting had two player sent off and went down 0-2. That leaves the group still wide open, with us on seven points, Sporting and Marseille on six and Frankfurt on four. A win in our next game at home to Sporting will qualify for the knock-out stages, after which a point at Marseille would see us top the group. Sporting will be without players who are suspended, but may be willing to have a go to get more points on the board, which might make things better for Spurs, as long as we play like we did in the first half tonight. Marseille beating them twice means that they are beatable, so it would be better for us to get the points on the board sooner rather than later. John Lacy’s Love-child |
MATCH NOTES |
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OTHER RESULTS | |||
Group A | |||
SSC Napoli (ITA) | 4 | Ajax (HOL) | 2 |
Glasgow Rangers | 7 | Liverpool | 1 |
Group B | |||
Atletico Madrid (SPA) | 0 | Club Brugge (BEL) | 0 |
Bayer Leverkusen (GER) | 0 | FC Porto (POR) | 3 |
Group C | |||
Viktoria Plzen (CZE) | 2 | Bayern Munich (GER) | 4 |
Barcelona (SPA) | 3 | Internazionale (ITA) | 3 |
Group D | |||
Sporting Lisbon (POR) | 0 | Olympique Marseille (FRA) | 2 |
Group E | |||
AC Milan (ITA) | 0 | Chelsea | 2 |
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) | 1 | Red Bull Salzburg (AUS) | 1 |
Group F | |||
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) | 1 | Real Madrid (SPA) | 1 |
Glasgow Celtic (SCO) | 0 | RB Leipzig (GER) | 2 |
Group G | |||
FC Copenhagen (DEN) | 0 | Mancashter City | 0 |
Borussia Dortmund (GER) | 1 | Sevilla (SPA) | 1 |
Group H | |||
Paris Saint Germain (FRA) | 1 | Benfica (POR) | 1 |
Maccabi Haifa (ISR) | 2 | Juventus (ITA) | 0 |
Champions League Group D Table
Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Points | Goal difference | ||
1 | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 7 | +1 |
2 | Olympique Marseille | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | +2 |
3 | Sporting Lisbon | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
4 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | -3 |