“It’s never over ‘til it’s over.” Know what I mean, ‘Arry. Who says Tottenham Hotspur are now Champions League no-hopers, just because they shipped four goals without reply in last night’s quarter-final first leg in the Bernabeu? Who says it counts they’ll be lacking their most direct route to five goals in 90 minutes now Peter Crouch is set to miss the second leg after being sent off inside a quarter-hour? They’ve been four down already in this season’s competition – away from home and in the San Siro, no less. On that occasion Gareth Bale pulled three back on his own and on another big European night back at the Lane who’s to say-Oh, who am I kidding?
Tottenham were effectively knocked out of Europe yesterday as their dreams of becoming the first from the Capital to lift the Continent’s first prize on their own North London patch were crushed by Jose Mourinho’s star-studded side in Spain’s Champion city.
The former Chelsea boss praised rival Harry Redknapp in the run-up to this clash but, even considering the utter recklessness of the ladder-legged Crouch in helping himself to two yellow cards for identical offences within the first 15 minutes on Tuesday evening, Redknapp’s tactics seemed to have nonetheless taken this Tottenham team as far as destiny would budge.
Contending with absences in his back-line – the back four could theoretically have read: Hutton, King, Woodgate, Kaboul but for injury – the Spurs manager again decided to pack his line-up with creative players, with one holding behind them (Sandro) and another hovering ahead (Crouch).
But when their already limited spearhead was reduced to a spectator’s role, with his supplier in their last Champions League outing, Aaron Lennon, having been surprisingly ruled out with a sore throat moments before kick-off and replaced by the ever-average Jermaine Jenas, it was down to Bale, returning from a thigh strain, along with Rafael van der Vaart, revisiting an old haunt, who proved unable to shoulder their respective burdens and spark Spurs into life.
Van der Vaart became petulant once referee Felix Brych (“the Doctor” in his native Germany) had diagnosed Crouch with an extended spell on the sidelines, staggering the streaky striker and nobody else by correctly giving him his marching orders, before the Dutchman was hauled off half way through for the subsequently anonymous Jermain Defoe, while Bale took on a team still run by the especially organised one single-handedly and found it a very different challenge to that which faced him in post-Mourinho Milan late last year.
“We’ll give it a go” Redknapp reached, ignoring the autopsy going on around him and instead focusing on the ‘better place’ he hoped would lie ahead. Spurs fans already worse off for next Wednesday’s return wouldn’t be human if they weren’t at least contemplating ebay and the wonders of loss-cutting.
At this same stage of the 2003-4 edition of UEFA’s nicest little earner, Deportivo La Coruna conceded four first time out before overturning the deficit against none other than AC Milan with a romping 4-0 win, only to be beaten in the next round by Jose’s eventual victors Porto. On this occasion, however, one fears that the end will again come at the hands of Mourinho, and in the time-honoured fashion.
No comments:
Post a Comment