FULL TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Juventus (agg: 3-4)
That’s it! Two goals in three second-half minutes have done for Spurs. The Italian champions are through to the quarter finals, while Spurs will have to concentrate on the FA Cup. Tottenham were magnificent in the first half, with Heung-Min Son particularly impressive. They looked in control until Massimiliano Allegri changed Juve’s shape midway through the second, and almost immediately the tie turned in the Old Lady’s favour. Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala were the goalscoring heroes, but Giorgio Chiellini was surely the man of the match, a colossus at the back, thwarting all attempts by Spurs to force extra time. This will hurt Tottenham now, but Juve’s experience in this competition showed in the end ... and should Mauricio Pochettino’s men make the top four of the Premier League again, perhaps this experience will stand them in good stead next year.
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90 min +3: Dybala is fouled in the midfield, needlessly by Dembele, and that will probably be that.
90 min +2: Sturaro has a dig. Nope. Spurs go up the other end. Trippier makes good down the right, but his cross is weak and straight at Buffon, who smothers.
90 min +1: There will be three added minutes. Wembley is beyond anxious.
90 min: Kane hists the post! Davies loops in from the left. Kane - who is offside, but the flag doesn’t go up, beats Chiellini in the air and heads down and to the left. The ball bounces up off the turf in slow motion, past the outstretched arm of Buffon. It hits the side of the post and bounces back across the line! Lamela can’t get there first to prod home. Instead, Barzagli hacks clear! So close to salvation!
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89 min: Lichtsteiner jogs down the right wing. He’s got no interest in doing anything other than running down time. Tick, tock.
88 min: Eriksen and Llorente take desperate long-distance shots. Both are blocked. Dybala races off upfield, and is brought down by Dembele, who is booked.
87 min: Llorente’s first significant contribution is a foul on Sturaro, one which takes the pressure off Juventus’s defence, and runs some more time off the clock.
86 min: Alli is replaced by Llorente.
85 min: Son keeps a Davies cross from the left alive down the right. That’s brilliant play, because that was surely going harmlessly out for a goal kick. He pulls it back for Eriksen, whose daisycutter flies wide left. Son has been superb tonight. He certainly doesn’t deserve to be on the losing side.
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84 min: Higuain, whose goal turned this tie, is replaced by Sturaro. He takes an age to depart, in the professional manner. The crowd holler their critique of this cynical ploy.
83 min: The corner is half cleared by Juve. Son is onto the ball in a flash, and sends a fine low shot inches wide of the bottom left. That wasn’t far away at all, and Buffon is livid with his defence. Son holds his face in his hands in disbelief. So close!
82 min: Davies finds a little space down the left. He curls into the Juve box. Kane is hoping to get on the end of it, but Chiellini clears brilliantly again. Davies has another go from the left. Son chests down on the right. He can’t get a shot away, so lays off for Eriksen, who aims for the top left. The ball clips off Asamoah and out for a corner on the right. Buffon was rooted to the spot there; that ball could have gone anywhere.
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80 min: Juve hog the ball awhile. Spurs can’t get a sniff. The seconds whirl by.
78 min: Much better from Spurs! Eriksen sends a ball to the left for Son, who fires it low into the centre. Kane is waiting to sidefoot home from six yards, but Chiellini slides in at the last moment to hack out for a corner. The set piece leads to nothing. What defending by Chiellini!
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77 min: Lamela dances his way out of a tight spot near the right-hand corner flag, and whips into the centre. But Chiellini stoops to head powerfully clear. Then there’s a suggestion that Costa handles on the edge of the box while chesting down to control. The referee isn’t interested. Finally Son dribbles purposefully down the left, but his cross doesn’t find a white shirt. Better from Spurs.
76 min: Spurs begin to edge their way into Juve territory, with the visitors happy to sit back and soak things up. Nothing doing right now. This is what Italian sides have excelled at for decades; this is a real test for Tottenham. Wembley is beginning to rediscover its collective voice, urging the home heroes to push on.
74 min: Lamela comes on for Dier.
73 min: One goal for Spurs, of course, will take this tie into extra time. It’s been to and fro pretty much from the first-leg get-go ... so is there another twist?
71 min: All of a sudden it’s Spurs who look ragged. They can’t string two passes together at the moment. Not in the Juve half anyway. They need to clear their heads and quick. Juve have shown them it can be done.
70 min: Higuain should send Costa scooting free into the Spurs box down the inside right, but can’t quite find the pass. Spurs can’t afford to concede again.
69 min: That quick-fire turnaround has sent Wembley into shock. The place was bouncing four minutes ago; now only the Italian fans are making serious noise. On the touchline, Mauricio Pochettino blows his cheeks out. That double whammy has hit him hard. Can his side respond?
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Juventus (Dybala 67); agg 3-4
Wembley is on edge all right. This is so simple. Higuain takes up possession with his back to goal, 40 yards out. He draws three white shirts, spins, and plays a cute reverse pass down the middle to release Dybala! Dybala has an age to think about it, but races to the area and lashes past Lloris and into the top right! Now it’s Spurs who need to respond, or they’re heading out of the Champions League!
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66 min: Spurs are still going through on away goals. But Juve’s change of formation has bolstered their midfield, and there’s been an instant dividend. Wembley is suddenly on edge.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Juventus (Higuain 64); agg 3-3
The mood changes instantly! Lichtsteiner races down the right. He crosses. Khedira, on the penalty spot, heads goalwards. The ball sails a little to the left, but Higuain nips in front of Lloris, sticks out a leg, and guides it back into the right-hand portion of the net. Game on!
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62 min: Lichtsteiner comes on for Benatia. Juve revert to their back four. Then the first sign of panic all evening by Spurs. Asamoah crosses from the left. Sanchez heads weakly upfield, when Lloris was well placed to deal with the situation. The ball drops to Dybala on the right-hand corner of the box. Dybala goes for the first-time spectacular shot, but gets it all wrong.
61 min: Asamoah immediately injects some pace down the left. He slips the ball to Sandro, who curls into the Spurs box for Higuain. The striker contorts his body in mid-air, kung-fu style, but can only send the ball sailing miles over the bar.
60 min: The champions of Italy make their first change. Matuidi is replaced by Asamoah.
59 min: Pjanic is really pushing his luck. He slides in on Eriksen, late. A free kick, nothing more. The crowd are desperate for a second yellow to be flashed. Spurs get on with it instead, winning a quick corner down the left. The set piece is hit long. Kane tries to meet it at the far post with a telescopic leg, but can’t get any meaningful contact on the ball.
58 min: Eriksen spreads a lovely ball wide left for Son, who cuts inside and looks to caress a curler into the top right. Son gets too much on it; it’s high and wide.
57 min: Barzagli clips the back of Son’s leg. There’s no real need for it. He’s the only Juve defender still to be booked, and that’s still the case. The ref slightly lenient there.
56 min: See also: Alli. He’s booked for a high-studs prod on Khedira. A fair chance this won’t end with 22 men on the field.
55 min: The official attendance is 84,010. Most of them give Pjanic the bird as he gets involved in a silly tussle with Alli in no man’s land. Juve are in danger of losing their heads here.
53 min: Now there are pantomime boos as Chiellini cynically barges into Alli as the Spurs man looks to make off down the left. That was as cynical as they come, because Juve were light at the back and Eriksen was up with Alli, hoping to cause all sorts of trouble. Taking one for the team, in the old-fashioned Italian style.
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52 min: Finally they flow forward, and Costa earns a corner down the left. But Pjanic’s dead-ball delivery is risible, hoicked over the box and out of play on the other side. Wembley gives a hearty ironic cheer.
51 min: Higuain faffs around in midfield and has the ball stolen off his toe by Vertonghen. Alli is sent scampering towards the Juve box. He shoots low, hard and wide left. Juve haven’t got going in this second half yet. They can’t afford much more of this.
49 min: Matuidi comes in late on Davies, as the Spurs man looks to launch one long down the left. There’s not much contact, so he escapes a booking, though that was fairly full on. Benatia goes in the book, though, for scraping his studs on Alli’s arse. That’s a poor challenge and - like Pjanic before him - he’ll miss Juve’s next match in Europe, whenever that is.
48 min: Incidentally, this is the first time Juve have trailed in a match since November. November!
47 min: Spurs load the box. Eriksen pulls it back, though, for Vertonghen who loops into the mixer from a different angle. He’d have probably been better shooting.
The teams are back out, and we’re off again! Juve get the ball rolling for the second period, having once again given the ref what for regarding the penalty that never was. Spurs are quickly on the attack, though, Alli brought down to the left of the box by Costa. A free kick in a very dangerous position.
Half-time letter. “When I don’t have a dog in the race, as it were, I tend to side with the team whose strip I like best, from a historical perspective,” writes Simon McMahon. “The Juve kit as worn by Míchel Platini takes some beating ...
... though Ricky Villa in 1981 tries hard.”
Any old excuse to rifle through the photo album. Thanks Simon.
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HALF TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Juventus (agg 3-2)
And that’s the end of a first half that’s flown by. Spurs have been the better team; the goalscorer Son has been magnificent. The visitors should have had a penalty kick, mind. Anyway, here we are, and unless Juve score at least two goals in the second half, Spurs will be in the quarter finals of the European Cup / Champions League for only the third time in their history!
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45 min: A bit of space for Matuidi down the left. He crosses deep for Higuain but the impressive Sanchez is in the way, and in any case the flag goes up for offside.
44 min: Pjanic picks up a yellow card for a noggin-gone wild lash in the direction of Alli. Not sure there was much contact, but that’s not really the point. Juve look rattled, and need to hear the half-time whistle to regroup.
43 min: A free kick for Juve in the Spurs half. Pjanic hooks it into the Spurs box and towards the left-hand post. Sandro meets it with his head, at close range, but it’s wild and high.
41 min: Juventus now have to score twice if they’re to stay in this year’s Champions League! Pjanic tries to pull one of the goals back immediately, with a shot from the edge of the area that sails just wide left.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Juventus (Son 39); agg 3-2
And now Son gets the luck he deserves! Eriksen plays Alli into the area down the inside-right channel. Alli’s shot is blocked. The ball breaks to Trippier on the right. Trippier hits low into the centre. The ball evades Eriksen, who has kept running, but Son meets it on the left. Son miskicks, but the bobble confuses Buffon and Chiellini and bounces almost apologetically into the net! Son cares not a jot and wheels off with a broad smile!
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38 min: Dembele spins out of a tight spot in the centre. He’d get away, too, but Khedira has a handful of his shirt. That should be a booking, but the ref thinks a wag of the finger is enough. Spurs then launch an attack, and the irrepressible Son romps into the box down the left. He lashes a low shot across Buffon and inches wide of the right-hand post. So close!
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37 min: Dembele concedes a free kick out on the left for a cheeky handball. A chance for Juve to load the box. The ball’s pumped into the Spurs area, but Sanchez rises highest to clear.
35 min: Sandro is booked for a blatant shove in the back of Trippier. This is heating up nicely in the old-fashioned style.
34 min: Kane tries to flash a spectacular shot into the top right from the left-hand corner of the Juve box. Ambitious, even for him.
33 min: Barzagli and Son tangle in the midfield. Barzagli manages to tread on Son twice, and throw in a cheeky backheel that doesn’t quite connect with his opponent, all the while acting like he’s trying to disengage. The referee didn’t see it, but Son certainly felt it. Ooyah. Now it’s Juve’s turn to get away with one.
32 min: Pjanic launches one long in the hope of releasing Higuain on goal. Sanchez steps up and plays the offside trap perfectly. Spurs go up the other end. Benatia heads clear. Alli meets the dropping ball and fires low from 20 yards. Buffon smothers.
30 min: The first slight lull of the evening. It’s been glorious entertainment so far, the Champions League at its best.
28 min: Dybala turns sharply out on the right wing and makes for the final third. Vertonghen sticks a leg across him and hacks him down. A booking. The Spurs defender looks out of sorts. That lunge on Costa, for the penalty that wasn’t given, was as clear as it gets. They’ve just shown a replay of it, and he had the chutzpah to throw a few you-went-down-easily shapes at Costa after the incident. You’ve got to brazen it out, haven’t you.
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26 min: Dier is receiving some treatment after a common-or-garden clatter in the midfield. He looks pained, having fallen awkwardly. He’s up and about again after a while.
24 min: Vertonghen meets the corner with a weak header that sails harmlessly wide right. Benatia had a fistful of his shirt then! On another day, with another referee, etc. This is marvellously eventful and wildly entertaining.
23 min: Dybala has a dig from distance but Sanchez gets in the way. Spurs go up the other end, the super-dangerous Son breezing down the left yet again and shooting the minute he enters the area. The ball’s blocked out for a corner.
21 min: Dier has a whack from 25 yards. His effort dribbles towards the bottom right. Buffon falls on it like a wet blanket. The Juve keeper has been super busy.
20 min: Spurs come at Juve in the wild style. Son very nearly breaks clear into the box down the left. He can’t get a shot away so pulls back for Eriksen, whose shot is blocked. The ball’s worked out right and swung back in. Son meets the cross with a towering header, sending the ball whistling towards the top left. Buffon punches it clear.
17 min: Douglas Costa turns on the jets and burns Vertonghen down the right, and into the area. Vertonghen slides in and takes his man out. It’s a clear penalty, but neither referee nor linesman give it. Juve are beyond livid, and surround the ref, but he’s not for turning. Spurs have dodged a bullet there!
15 min: Spurs are well on top here. Dembele very nearly releases Son down the left with a deft flick, but the ball’s run out for a goal kick. Then Alli slips a pass down the right for Kane, who rounds a rash Buffon on the outside! He’s got a small gap to find the unguarded goal, but the angle’s tight and he finds the side netting. That’s a great chance for a striker of Kane’s quality, though, and so has to go down as a miss.
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13 min: Kane has the ball at his feet, just inside the Juve area on the right. Chiellini slides in to block the shot that’s coming. Kane tries to shift the ball and it hits the defender’s hand. There’s a claim for a penalty, but not at great volume. The right decision, as it looked totally accidental, the whole thing happening in a tight space.
12 min: Juve knock it around the back in the old-school Italian style. But Spurs buzz and press, forcing a couple of small mistakes. Nothing comes of them, it’s all a bit scrappy, but that’s some good work by Alli and Eriksen, and it augurs well.
10 min: Son earns the first corner of the evening with a determined bustle down the left. Davies takes. The ball nearly drops to Vertonghen, then Kane, but Chiellini clears. This is fast-paced, open and fun.
9 min: Now Spurs do some final-third probing. Eriksen glides in from the right and loops a pass towards Son, just inside the Juve box on the left. The ball drops, begging to be volleyed goalwards. Son can’t time his whack.
7 min: Spurs betray their nerves for the first time tonight, Lloris putting a simple pass to Son out of play on the left. That allows Juve to probe a little in the Spurs final third. Costa sashays infield from the right and swings a fierce cross towards Higuain at the far post. Too high and too fast, the striker never had a chance. A pinpoint cross would have had Spurs in trouble, though, because Higuain had a little space to work in there.
5 min: Alex Sandro hoicks a long pass down the left with a view to releasing Matuidi into acres of space. Spurs are a bit stretched at the back, but the pass is way too heavy and Matuidi doesn’t have a hope of latching onto it.
3 min: It’s a fast start by Spurs all right. Son makes good down the left but can’t find Kane in the middle. No matter, he’s soon coming at Juve again down the same flank. This time he enters the area and from a tight angle lashes a shot towards the bottom left. Buffon parries with a strong arm, and the ball flies out to the other flank. The danger is over, but Juve are on the back foot here.
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And we’re off! Spurs kick off, and try to repeat the grift they pulled on Manchester United. Alli is into the Juve box in short order, but Benatia is wise to it and wins a clearing header. The header clanks off the defender’s arm, and there’s a half-hearted penalty shout. But the referee rightly waves play on. “So should I guarantee a Kane hat trick by calling him a donkey before the match starts?” wonders Gareth Beale, who had a rush of blood during half time of the recent Rochdale MBM. “It worked for Llorente, but then Harry doesn’t need my help - COYS!”
Before we start, a perfectly observed minute’s silence for Davide Astori of Fiorentina, who tragically passed away last weekend. It melts into warm applause. RIP Davide.
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The teams are out! A wonderful atmosphere greets the players at Wembley. It’s a big game, with a noise to match. Spurs are in their famous lilywhite shirts, which means the champions of Italy are forced out of their storied zebra stripes and into second-choice yellow. We’ll be off in a minute, once pennants have been swapped, hands shaken, and the memory of poor old Zadok the Priest treated with terrible disrespect. Whispers suggest Juve are going to give their usual 4-3-3 system a good old shoogle. They’ll be playing three at the back: Chiellini, Benatia and Barzagli, with Douglas Costa and Alex Sandro working hard out on the wings. We’ll see soon enough.
Pre-match words from Mauricio Pochettino! “We are in a very good moment, with good momentum and very good form. But the reality today is completely a different game. We need to show our quality. It was important to get the 2-2 result, it was fantastic. But at this level, against Juventus, you cannot start a game like we started that game in Turin. I hope we start strong, of course, trying to go forward and trying to win the game. Son has showed good quality and the capacity to score goals in the last games. Lamela is also fantastic, it is a very good problem for a manager to have.”
Pre-match admin. If you’re not a subscriber yet - and why not, it’s only been going since 1998 - you could do worse than signing up to The Fiver, our daily email of football chit and soccer chat. Today’s edition will even save you the job of scrolling down the page and reading the preamble to this MBM.
Pre-match listening: While we’re killing time before kick off, we could listen to the pundits on the television yammer on about this match, filling time, always filling time. Or we could cock an ear in the direction of Rob Smyth, Lee Calvert and a host of other experts reminiscing about their (and your) salad days. It’s a no-brainer!
Spurs make two changes to the team they sent out in Turin three weeks ago. Kieran Trippier replaces the suspended Serge Aurier, while Heung-Min Son relegates Erik Lamela to the bench.
Juve make three changes from their first-leg starting XI. Mattia De Sciglio, Mario Mandzukic and Federico Bernardeschi are unavailable; in come Andrea Barzagli, Blaise Matuidi and Paulo Dybala.
Tonight's teams
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Trippier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies, Dier, Dembele, Eriksen, Alli, Son, Kane.
Subs: Vorm, Rose, Wanyama, Sissoko, Lamela, Moura, Llorente.
Juventus: Buffon, Barzagli, Benatia, Chiellini, Sandro, Khedira, Pjanic, Matuidi, Dybala, Higuain, Costa.
Subs: Szczesny, Marchisio, Asamoah, Rugani, Lichtsteiner, Sturaro, Bentancur.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).
Preamble
Tottenham Hotspur are a huge club. A famous club. One of England’s grandest institutions. They’ve got a European pedigree to match, having been the first British club to land a trophy on the continent – the 1963 Cup Winners Cup – and the winners of two Uefa Cups since. But their record in the big one constitutes a gap on the honours board: a narrow semi-final defeat to Benfica in 1962 and a quarter-final thumping by Real Madrid in 2011 is all they’ve got to show in the European Cup. So getting through to the quarters this year would be a feat not to be sniffed at. Mauricio Pochettino’s side may be one of the best teams in Europe right now ... but history can be a burden, so one step at a time.
The quarters are tantalisingly close, though. Spurs may have already beaten reigning champions Real Madrid and done for much-fancied Borussia Dortmund this season, but Juventus still looked quite the hurdle when these clubs were paired in the Round of 16. The Old Lady has made two of the last three finals, after all. And when Gonzalo Higuain scored twice in the first nine minutes of the first leg ... well. But look at how Spurs fought back through Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen! A draw, two away goals, advantage Tottenham. If Europe didn’t know it before, they certainly know now: Spurs are the real deal.
The historical stats are heavily in their favour tonight. They’re unbeaten at home in seven matches against Italian opponents. They’ve won 80 percent of their two-legged against teams from Serie A. And they’ve won all six European ties in which they’ve drawn the away first leg. Meanwhile Juve have lost their last five two-legged knockout ties against English clubs, most recently against Roy Hodgson’s Fulham inthe 2010 Europa League. And their overall record away in England is not great at all: won three, drawn six, lost 12. In this respect, a glory, glory night looks on the cards for Spurs.
Thing is, two-time European champions Juventus are a pretty darn big deal as well. And the Bianconeri will grasp at a couple of significant straws: they’ve won all but two of the eight European rubbers in which they’ve drawn the first leg at home. And they’re unbeaten in three in England, having lost the previous seven. Oh, and the fact that they’re a sensational side themselves: they’ve won 14 of their last 15 matches, scoring 30 times and letting in just three ... and despite it all, would have beaten Spurs at home had Higuain’s penalty been just a couple of inches lower. No biggie, then, Tottenham.
So it’s fair to say that this one is firmly in the balance. Both teams will go into it with confidence high; both will be trading on expectation more than hope. But only one can make it through to the quarters. Can Juve continue a march to another possible final? Or can Spurs make it to only the third European Cup quarter final in their history? It’s going to be a blast finding out. It’s a winner-takes-all showdown between two of the finest sides on the continent. It’s on!
Kick off: 7.45pm at Wembley.
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