PSG 2-2 TOTTENHAM (PSG win 4-3 on penalties) – PSG were dead and buried in the game before late goals from Kang-in lee and Goncalo Ramos turned the tables against a Spurs side who had been 2-0 up
Welcome to Tottenham, Thomas Frank. Just when you began to warm to the prospect of the Europa League winners being a different animal under the Dane, you were reminded that nothing is ever straightforward when Spurs are concerned.
They led 2-0 with just five minutes to play and had made the Champions League winners look ordinary for the best part of an hour.
Yet somehow, they came away scratching their heads after losing on penalties and fumbling the chance to win a second European trophy in just four months.
Goals from Micky van de Ven and newly-appointed captain Cristian Romero had put Tottenham ahead before Lee Kang-in pulled one back and fellow sub Goncalo Ramos then wrestled back the game in the dying embers to send the tie to spot-kicks.
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When Vitinha missed from 12-yards, you thought Spurs’ luck was in but Van de Ven and Mathys Tel both fluffed their lines as PSG’s continental dominance continued.
There was no fairytale story for Udine-born Guglielmo Vicario either, who did not get close to any other Parisian penalty as Nuno Mendes slammed in the winner.
At one point, it looked like Daniel Levy was set to miss the kind of triumph he has long craved as he was in the United States helping move his daughter into university.
He best head back to north London very soon if he wants to win the Premier League and Champions League as recently stated because it’s clear to see Frank still needs several more new signings.
It was a brutally harsh lesson for Spurs but will also still provide Frank’s dressing room with encouragement that they can trade blows with just about any team on their day ahead of their return to Europe’s elite club competition.
Ange Postecoglou was frequently scrutinised for not having a Plan B but new boss Frank was bold and sprung a surprise to nullify PSG’s attacking threat.
Six days after shipping four goals to Bayern Munich in Germany, the Dane pivoted to a 5-3-2 formation – the same system that brought him great joy at Brentford during their debut Premier League season.
PSG, who obliterated Inter Milan 5-0 in May’s one-sided Champions League final, suddenly did not look so fluid or dangerous.
Instead, it was organised and energetic Spurs that posed the biggest threat as Pedro Porro, Pape Matar Sarr and Mohammed Kudus led the charge on the counter-attack.
Lucas Chevalier – the £34.5million goalkeeper tasked with replacing Gianluigi Donnarumma following his shock axe engineered by Enrique – was called into action to tip Richarlison’s deflected strike over the crossbar.
The Frenchman then displayed stunning reflexes to push Joao Palhinha’s effort onto the crossbar before Van de Ven fired in on 39 minutes.
Frank’s new dead-ball coach Andreas Georgson has had an instant impact in N17 and he added another goal to his tally when Romero snuck in at the back post from a free-kick and headed past the unconvincing Chevalier.
At that point, Enrique’s decision to exile Donnarumma had looked all the more baffling, though there was a brief moment of salvation when Chevalier later kept out Van de Ven’s penalty.
It’s a bitter pill for Tottenham to swallow ahead of Saturday’s Premier League opener against Burnley but they cannot let it impact their season given they’re yet to even kick a ball domestically.
Another slice of history was well and truly within their grasp but somehow, they let it slip away from them as PSG displayed once again why they’re the game’s mentality monsters as they added yet another impressive English scalp to their resume after beating Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal in last season’s Champions League.
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