Paris Saint-Germain (France) (Udine) 13.08.2025

Controversy among the French side before the match came with super-star keeper Donnarumma being left out of the squad after rumours that he wanted to leave following the signing of Chevalier in goal, but Spurs were injury-hit as has become the custom, while the late Yves Bissouma was disciplined for his lack of punctuality by being left in England.

Wearing our all white European kit, Spurs kicked off the match and with 30 seconds gone, Pedro Porro tired a long range shot that flew over the angle of the goal but not by much.  An interesting tactic that we might see a bit more this season was a long throw from Kevin Danso that got into the middle of the penalty area, but PSG cleared after a bit of panic.  The French side’s first dangerous attack came down the left and some quick passes got them into the box, but Kvaratskhelia couldn’t get the ball out of his feet and squirted it wide.

Kudus did well to rob the ball on halfway and put a cross in that was long, but Richarlison did very well to keep it in, but then he over-hit his cross and it floated out.  Kudus was doing well using his low centre of gravity to spin off opponents and 22 minutes in, he moved forward in a central position, waiting for the right moment to play the ball in front of Richi.  Moving across to the right of the D, he struck it first time and it deflected off Pacho’s boot and the
keeper did well to palm it up and over the bar.  The corner was hit to the far post and Rodrigo Bentancur came in late with a header but got under it sending it over the top.

While Spurs were getting in and around the PSG players, the pressure forced turnovers and Kudus struck a first time shot that Marquinhos threw himself at and blocked.  In the 35th minute, the Champions League winners had a good chance when the ball dropped for Dembele, but he got his shot all wrong and side-footed it way over the bar.

A free kick just inside the PSG half from the right to the far side of the box by taken by Vicario, where Romero won the header into the box.  Marquinhos went to clear it, but headed it against the back of Micky van de Ven’s head and Joao Palhinha reacted well to stretch to poke at goal, with Chevalier reacting better to touch it onto the bar.  However, when it came down, Micky was in the right place to put the ball into an empty net from inside the six-yard box in the 39th minute.  The Spurs fans erupted and it was well deserved with the effort being put in disrupting the game plan of the French side.

A long throw once more caused concern in the PSG defence, as it wasn’t cleared with the ball played out to Spence, whose shot was blocked out to Danso to nod it across again for Richarlison to head at goal and Mohammed threw himself at it, planting the ball against the foot of the post with his head, leaving Chevalier rooted.  It looked as though there might have been an offside, but again, the press made it hard to play the ball away.

From the restart after half-time, Vitinha took the kick off long, looking for touch but it went out for a goal-kick.  Strange tactics, but then perhaps he was hoping for a throw-in, if they have someone who can sling it as far as Kevin.  Doue was then careless with the ball around his penalty area and Richarlison hit a snapshot that Chevalier had to beat out.  Porro’s diagonal free-kick from the right was straight onto Cristian Romero’s head, totally unmarked and his downward header bounced just in front of the keeper, who exhibited chocolate wrists to flap at it and help it on its way into the net when he should have done better.  So two goals up three minutes into the second half and Spurs fans were in dreamland.

Another free kick for a foul by Kvaratskhelia saw it taken short on the left and Kudus crossed to the far post where Danso was totally free to head at goal, but could only find the side-netting.  Then, when PSG attacked, Micky took a kick in the ribs from Kvaratskhelia’s overhead kick and when Porro broke into the box, Pacho made contact but the ref didn’t consider it was a enough for a penalty.  

Richarlison was booked for kicking the ball away when the ref gave a free-kick against Pape Matar Sarr for a crunching tackle on Vithinha and then Barcola got a yellow for fouling Richarlison as he tried to bring the ball out of the Spurs box, with Doue kicking the ball away but not getting booked.  Sarr nicked the ball off Pacho 30 yards out and was hauled back, so a yellow card was flashed at the PSG defender.  Porro’s free-kick was deflected wide.  This one came in short and the ball was headed clear.

Danso kicked the ball away and got booked, as the referee then chose to enforce that rule again and a few minutes later, Barcola put the ball and Danso had made a brave block but there had been an offside, so it was disallowed.   After Hakimi had showed some skill in the area, Dembele put his shot well wide when he had time and space.

The Spurs subs came on in the 73rd minute as Richarlison made way for Solanke and Archie Gray took over from Palhinha.  Five minutes of defending later, Mohammed Kudus went off with Mathys Tel coming off the bench.  While PSG were camping in the Spurs half, they were unable to make much of it, with the Tottenham players working so hard to deny them any opportunity to make anything of their territorial advantage.  When Tel bundled over Lee on the edge of the Tottenham box, the free-kick brought shouts of handball as PSG were desperate but the ball clearly hit Porro’s shoulder.  Lee hit a low drive from the left of the D across Vic into his left hand bottom corner after Romero had headed the ball out.

Cristian made a great block as Mendes crashed in a shot from where the goal came from.  Dembele got booked for dissent as Mbaye went down looking for a penalty and Pape departed with Lucas Bergvall replacing him.  It was in the third minute of added time that PSG worked the ball left to right and Dembele’s cross was put in by Ramos’ head as he threw himself at it from close range.  As added time almost reached six minutes, Ramos went for a repeat of his goal, but Kevin Danso did brilliantly to stop him getting a clean contact on it and as Romero went down with cramp, the final whistle went to signal penalties would settle the match.  And they sent the trophy to France, with Vitinha putting PSG’s penalty wide after sitting Vicario down with a stuttering run-up, but Micky hit Tottenham’s third penalty too low and too near the keeper, who kept it out.  When Mathys mimicked Vitinha’s spot-kick, it left Mendes with the opportunity to win it for PSG and that was that.

Spurs had put so much into it, the effort seemed to allow PSG back into the game, with their shape improved by their substitutions and hopefully it hasn’t taken too much out of them with Burnley waiting in three days time.

While the subs didn’t have much opportunity to shine, the starting eleven did a good job in subduing the French champions.  The team were doubling up on the PSG wide men and worked hard to get behind the ball with only the last fifteen minutes giving space to punish us.  That explains the quiet performance of the much feted Doue and Kvaratskhelia, whose temperament was sorely tested by his inability to impose himself on the Spurs defence.  Pape and Rodrigo were snapping into tackles and tracking runs, while also being effective in moving the ball forward.  The Champions League winners looked ineffectual against a determined Spurs defence until their substitutions … and Tottenham’s substitutions too.  Richi had worked like a dog as he did in the EL final and players were speedily shutting down players on the ball.  Kudus showed his strength to win the ball and not being knocked off it when he had it, which helped Spurs break out of defence, who were calm and organised.

It looks as though some of Thomas Frank’s influence is coming through already, although his analogy about how his tactics performed claiming “in medical terms, the operation was successful, but the patient died” was a little morbid !

• Tottenham’s first competitive game under Head Coach Thomas Frank.