Harry Kane said Tottenham’s performance at Barcelona was the latest evidence that they can live with Europe’s best and should fire the belief they can progress deep into the Champions League.
Spurs drew 1-1 at Camp Nou on Tuesday to advanced to the last 16, because Internazionale could only draw 1-1 at home to PSV Eindhoven. Tottenham had needed to match Inter’s result to go through. “Thank us later Spurs,” PSV’s account tweeted, with a winking emoji.
Tottenham trailed to Ousmane Dembélé’s seventh-minute goal but created a fistful of chances, most of which came in a dominant second-half and, when Kane teed up the substitute, Lucas Moura, for the equaliser on 85 minutes, it was no more than they deserved.
Barcelona – already qualified as group winners – had rested regulars such as Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Sergio Busquets.
Spurs enjoyed similarly positive performances in away ties last season, most notably in the 1-1 draw at Real Madrid and the 2-2 draw at Juventus. They had been widely written off after taking only one point from their opening three ties this season and Kane felt their response, starting with the Wembley wins over PSV and Inter and culminating at Camp Nou, showed their character.
“It’s another step forward,” Kane said. “It’s a massive achievement for the club but it’s important we carry it on and go as far as we can in this competition. This will give us belief we can do that. The way we played and the chances we created – it shows we can be as good as anyone on our day. Thankfully, the football gods were looking down because PSV got the result that helped us out.
“There isn’t a bigger game than Barcelona away. We know if we get them again, maybe in the later stages– we played Juve and Real Madrid last year and did well – we know it’s in there. Who knows how far we can go? It’s about belief.
“Not many people have been talking about Tottenham in the Premier League but we get on with our job, tick over until the new year and then give it a push. The Champions League is the same. A lot of people were writing us off after three games but we’ve showed the character we’ve got.”
Tottenham will be disappointed if their new stadium is not ready for either the Newcastle home game on 2 February or Leicester on 9 February, which would mean the Champions League last-16 tie would be the first match there. Spurs will be drawn at home in the first leg and it will be played on either 12-13 February or 19-20 February.
“It would be something special – Champions League games in the new stadium,” Kane said. “Everyone knows Anfield has been fantastic for Liverpool – they’ve pulled out some great comebacks and results there – and we’ve got to try to create that atmosphere.”
