Talking points: Tottenham and Liverpool hold their nerve to reach Champions League last 16
Tottenham are used to having their nerve questioned but tonight in Barcelona they recovered from an early setback, regained composure and seized a deserved place in the Champions League last 16 that had looked beyond them halfway through the group stage.
When Ousmane Dembele capitalised on the inexperience of Kyle Walker-Peters – the third-choice right-back thrust into a first start in the competition due to a lack of fit alternatives – to surge clear and slot past Hugo Lloris, Spurs looked to be in for a chastening night.
But they refused to panic and the patient probing of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son drew save after save from Jasper Cillessen. That is, until six minutes from time when Lucas Moura met Kane’s low cross and beat the Danish goalkeeper for 1-1.
Yes, Tottenham were facing a weakened Barca side, rode their luck when Philippe Coutinho twice hit the post and benefited from Inter Milan choking their way to a draw at home to PSV Eindhoven. But this was a test of resolve and wit as much as skill and Spurs passed with flying colours.
Moura like it
Having failed to find an adequate stand-in for the ever-dependable Kane, Mauricio Pochettino appears to have solved his biggest problem with an increasingly influential supporting cast.
Eriksen, Alli and Son have all made match-winning contributions this season when the England captain has been unable to. Here it was the turn of the Brazilian Lucas, who went close to equalising twice – Cillessen somehow clawing one header off the line – before his breakthrough.
Vincent Janssen and Fernando Llorente have proven unsuitable pretenders to Kane’s role, with just six goals each to show for a combined outlay of around £30m – or £2.5m a goal. Moura has seven already this term, only half a dozen fewer than Kane himself.
Risky Reds
Liverpool squeezed through to the last 16 as runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain in an ultra-competitive Group C after gaining the win they required over Napoli in their final fixture by the only one-goal margin that would have been sufficient.
It needn’t have been such a nervy night on Anfield, though. Quite apart from their wretched away record in the competition – they lost all three games, including at Red Star Belgrade – they had the chances to put Napoli out of sight here.
After Mohamed Salah eased the anxiety on Merseyside by turning his man and beating David Ospina from a tight angle, the Egypt forward missed a chance to score again while Sadio Mane was woefully inaccurate as his barren streak reached an eighth game.
Alisson's a keeper
He cost a then-world record fee for a goalkeeper of £67m and his contribution has already been widely highlighted, so you could hardly say that Alisson has been an unsung hero in Liverpool’s formidable start to the season.
But the Brazil No1 continues to demonstrate on an almost match-by-match basis why he was deemed worth such an outlay and here averted the bitterest of twists to his team’s night when he saved a point-blank effort from Napoli striker Arkadiusz Milik in the dying moments.
The Reds’ evolution from a devil-may-care side bent only on outscoring the opposition to Jurgen Klopp 2.0 – a more patient, deliberate unit – may not delight the neutrals but is proving more effective, and the usually impenetrable Alisson is the cornerstone.
Deadly Dortmund
They have set the pace in the Bundesliga and now Borussia Dortmund are making the rest of Europe take notice. A 2-0 win over Thierry Henry’s Monaco in the principality saw them pinch top spot in Group A from multiple finalists Atletico Madrid, who were held at Club Brugge.
Even more impressive was that they did so without their biggest names. Lucien Favre made nine changes, including resting England’s hottest new prospect Jadon Sancho, and enjoyed a stroll all the same.
Dortmund are quickly marking themselves out as a team the English contingent would prefer to avoid in next week’s last 16 draw.