Tottenham feared they had found a novel way to feel a kick where it most hurts, something entirely in keeping with the moment they are in. There were 77 minutes on the clock, this Carabao Cup semi-final first leg had finally started to bubble and Dominic Solanke thought he had put them in front.
It was not only a fine finish from Pedro Porro’s searching through-ball but a goal of rich narrative strands. This was the striker, remember, who could not make it happen during a spell at Liverpool earlier in his career.
Enter the referee, Stuart Attwell, to explain, live and miked up – in an initiative aimed at greater transparency – that Solanke had been fractionally offside. No goal. Attwell looked nervous. He actually blew his whistle into his microphone before delivering the soliloquy, which was jarring.
It was a tie that had plenty of drama, beginning early on when the Spurs midfielder, Rodrigo Bentancur, collapsed under no challenge when hunting the ball at a corner for his team. After lengthy treatment, he would be manoeuvred carefully on to a stretcher and taken from the field. Spurs reported during the half-time break that he was conscious, talking and bound for a hospital check-up.
There was the not insignificant detail of Antonin Kinsky excelling on his Spurs debut, having had just two training sessions with his teammates after moving for £12.5m from Slavia Prague. The goalkeeper showed personality and made a clutch of fine saves.
But it was all gazumped towards the very end with a stunning twist, one loaded with glory from a Spurs point of view, seeing the birth of a star – and coated in controversy when viewed through a Liverpool lens.
Lucas Bergvall, at 18 years young, had strutted his stuff in midfield, playing with an absence of fear. It is not in his make-up to duck expressing himself. Yet he was on a yellow card for a lunge at the Liverpool substitute, Luis Díaz, when he cleaned out Kostas Tsimikas to try to prevent a counterattack. It was a clear second booking and Attwell chose to spare him. As Slot would later remark, there was no explanation from the referee to the crowd for that aberration.
Moments later, with Tsimikas still off the field having received treatment, Spurs sprang forward, Porro finding Solanke, who held off another Liverpool replacement, Ibrahima Konaté, before squaring for Bergvall. Talk about making the most of a reprieve. Bergvall had never scored for Spurs. But he strode onto the chance to steer it past Alisson and Spurs were in dreamland.
There would still be time for Kinsky to make a smart save from Darwin Núñez, who had also entered as a substitute and, when the full-time whistle went, Spurs could tell themselves they had one foot in the final. Perhaps, that was stretching it a little because Liverpool at Anfield in the second leg in early February will be a different proposition.
Having hammered Spurs 6-3 in the Premier League before Christmas, Slot’s quadruple-chasing team did not play with the same fluency and incision. But Spurs had entered the tie with 10 players out through injury and suspension. They had won only three of their previous 14 matches in all competitions. The pressure was on Ange Postecoglou. This was a release.
The game had been framed to a certain extent by what happened to Bentancur; a very distressing moment for everybody inside the ground. Spurs had almost scored when Son Heung-min returned a corner into the danger area and Radu Dragusin extended Alisson.
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But in the initial phase, Bentancur had thrown himself into a stooping header and he simply did not move from the ground, players from both teams waving the medics on straight away. The lack of any TV replays of the incident inside the stadium only reinforced the severity of it; the worry levels.
Liverpool started slowly; there were errors from them on the ball – a high number of them. Some required double-takes. What, really? Slot’s team had to reshuffle themselves when Jarell Quansah felt something in his chest and went off just before the half-hour.
Liverpool grew as a first half that featured 11 additional minutes wore on. Conor Bradley, who started ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back, was a physical, driving presence. The visitors threatened to get in with overlaps up the left.
Liverpool’s best moment before the interval came when Tsimikas teed up Alexis Mac Allister with a cross. It was on a plate but Mac Allister headed straight at Kinsky.
The tensions simmered. Postecoglou was animated in his technical area, which feels like an increasingly regular sight. He was on his knees in anguish just before the hour when Spurs blew a golden chance for the opening goal, Bergvall robbing the dallying Alisson and Porro shooting straight at Virgil van Dijk. On the second phase, Porro chipped off target when gloriously placed.
Liverpool pushed. Mohamed Salah flickered. He would release Núñez up the inside right only for Kinsky to make a big block. There was also the moment when Alexander-Arnold, who came off the bench, unloaded a venomous first-time shot from an angle that flew past Kinsky. Dragusin would make an excellent clearance off the line. Spurs survived. After the body blow of the disallowed Solanke goal, they would thrive.
Source: theguardian.com
