Sporting Lisbon (Away) 13.09.2022

The match had chances at both ends before Sporting scored with ten seconds left of the normal 90 minutes and then ran in a second into added time, leaving Spurs with nothing to show, although we did not perform to anything like we can.  Having been unbeaten without playing that well, it finally came home to roost and at a gutting time when it looked as though we might get a draw from the match.  Having won games in the last minute, it had to happen to us I suppose, but it leaves us chasing second place in the group unless Sporting drop points.

With the same team from the last match apart from Davies coming in for Lenglet, we started pretty well for a change.  A high press helped win a couple of corners in the second minute brought a near post flick from Dier that hit Richarlison, but was cleared.  Another error trying to play the ball out presented the ball to Hojbjerg, who squared to Son and he put it into Rodrigo Bentancur’s path, but his drive form outside the box was blocked.  When Kane’s pass intended for Hojbjerg was picked off, the home side broke quickly through ex-Spur Marcus Edwards and he provided a pass for Goncalves to put in a low shot from left of the goal inside the area, but Hugo Lloris dived full length to his left to get a touch on it and divert it wide for a corner, which he gathered in when the ball came across.

Sporting were keeping a high line when out of possession, which meant balls played over the top had to be accurate, but with the pitch having been watered before kick off, they more often gathered pace off the turf and ran through to the keeper.  Richarlison looked lively, with a shot blocked from the edge of the box, with play going on to provide him with a far post header from IvanPerisic’s cross, but coming over a defender’s head, he couldn’t get a lot of power behind it.  Emerson Royal flashed a low ball across the face of goal before Perisic took a long throw resulting from it and the Brazilian wing-back could only loop the ball into the keeper’s hands after it came over a group of players at the near post.  In between Santos flashed a shot across Hugo that went just wide but Harry Kane then played a pass through the defence for Richarlison and with the keeper closing him down, he opted to pass to Son on his left, but he was offside. 

It didn’t look like it was going to be Richarlison’s day when Kane slipped him through again and he had to take the ball to the keeper’s right and slip the ball into an unguarded net, but the semi-AI offside decision was that he went a little early and was beyond the last defender.  Spurs were once more grateful to Hugo as the game entered two minutes of added time.  A Mini-Messi like run form inside the Spurs half saw Edwards slalom his way through a couple of desperate Dier challenges and another from Perisic as he broke into the box, swapping passes with Trinacao before toe-poking an effort at goal from six yards out.  Lloris did well to get anything on it and he managed to get his right hand down on the ball as it went to that side of him and it came off the heel of his hand to deflect under and behind him to squirm out for a corner.  It was a pure instinct save and one that kept Spurs level at the break.

The corner that Spurs fans had been shoe-horned into had mucky Perspex screens where the seats were close to the home fans and netting to prevent things being thrown.  There had been a respectfully observed minute’s silence at the start of the game to honour the death of the Queen after some Spurs fans had been singing and hushed up.  From the less than Sporting supporters there was the odd whistle and derogatory shout.  However, during the game, despite not being able to sell out their own allocation (large sections empty in their home end), they made a lot of noise and benefit from having fans three quarters of the way around the ground rather than the home support at the THS being broken up by corporate seating.  We’ve got the South Stand that makes a lot of noise, but the other parts of the ground are left unconnected.

Anyway, the teams came out to the home end being lit by a green flare, although the sun was still out as it was only 18.45.  A god move down our left allowed Kane a chance to cross to the far post, where Royal met it with his head above a defender, but couldn’t get much power into it and Adan palmed the ball away jumping up to his left top corner to keep it out.  When Son was fouled by Morita, Kane was alive to the situation and chipped a quick free-kick over the home defence for Royal, whose shot at the far post was kept out in an ungainly fashion by Adan, falling to his knees, from which the ball rebounded out.

It was a quick start to the second half, as Spurs continued to attack.  Kane had Adan stretching to dive low to divert his cross shot and then Royal’s cross was headed narrowly wide by Perisic.  When Bentancur slipped a pass down the right inside the box for Richarlison, the striker switched the ball onto his left foot and tried to curl the ball inside the post, but it went just the wrong side as far as Spurs were concerned.  The game got a tetchy with Rodrigo getting booked for for his first foul of the match on Goncalves and then Morita was shown yellow for a number of fouls – mainly on Sonny.  Sporting won a corner after Edwards shoved Davies in the back to get away on the right wing, only to have his cross blocked.  Morita hit a volley to the clearance when it was played in, but it hit Richi on the back, allowing Spurs to build when Lloris got possession.  It went down the left and Perisic’s step-over gave him a yard to play a great ball through the six-yard box with Kane just unable to reach it.   

Kulusevski came off the bench to replace Son, making an immediate impact as Reis fouled him to get booked, then the Swede picked out Richarlison at the far post to head just wide of the goal.  As the game got stretched, Emerson and Hojbjerg picked up bookings for pulling a player back and the Dane taking out Ugarte as he broke forward.  In the last minute of the second half, Perisic swung in a high cross from the left and Santos missed his kick, but recovered and the ball was played through by substitute Alex to Porro, who was sent away on the right wing.  He cut back inside Perisic and Davies onto his left foot in the box, curling the ball around Dier, only to be denied by a great piece of footwork once again by Hugo, who reached up with his right hand diving to his right to knock the ball away with a fine save.  It looked to be the save that earned Spurs a point, but from the corner, Paulinho rose highest at the near post to glance a header across Lloris and in to take the lead for Sporting.  Conte had been preparing substitutes to come on, but the delay, not wanting to introduce them when Tottenham were defending led to them sitting down again. 

With a game on Saturday, the Head Coach probably didn’t think it was worth it, with little chance of a comeback and he was right two minutes into added time.  The ball was played left to Gomes, who ran forward before darting inside between Royal and Romero, nutmegging Emerson on the way.  Reaching the corner of the six-yard box, he shot between Hugo’s legs as he tried to close him and made it 2-0 on a night to forget for us.  There was little opportunity to kick off again before the end and we slumped back in our seats as another away Champions League defeat added to our poor record on the road in the competition.  Another last minute defeat too, as too many matches are lost at the end when we could have picked up away points by making more of the play we had earlier in the game.

Conte will be disappointed with the ending to the match, but the loss has been coming.  Perhaps it is as well it came here, but it means Tottenham will have to pick up their game in the remaining group matches.  It is an important competition for Spurs, as we need to show we can compete at this level, while the Premier League matches are important too, as we need to qualify for the Champions League.  It’s a vicious circle, but one that Conte will have to square.

Marco van Hip 

• Eric Dier plays his 50th European match for Tottenham.