Tottenham squeezed through to the last 16 of the Champions League by taking a point against a weakened Barcelona at Camp Nou on Tuesday night.
Lucas Moura was the hero, coming off the bench to net a late leveller and cancel out a spectacular early opener from Ousmane Dembele, but Barcelona will also be satisfied with a point after fielding a much-changed starting line-up.
Here are the three key takeaways on a memorable night for Tottenham in Catalonia.
Second-half improvement serves Spurs
Tottenham headed into the game knowing they had to match Inter Milan’s result against PSV, and the Dutch team’s early goal at the San Siro was a suitably unexpected backdrop to a dramatic evening which saw Spurs initially look timid before greatly improving after the break to fully deserve their draw.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino appeared keen to throttle Barca in the centre of the pitch, fielding a fluid 4-3-2-1 formation which saw Christian Eriksen occupy narrow central positions in support of Harry Kane and the only real width provided by full-backs Kyle Walker-Peters and Danny Rose.
It worked to a great extent, with Barca’s possession game forced back into deep areas while centre forward Munir El Haddadi – and later substitute Lionel Messi – receiving very little service as the ball rarely entered Tottenham’s final third.
Their defensive comfort and a greater sense of need allowed Tottenham to become a greater attacking force in the second half, with Christian Eriksen pulling the strings and Harry Kane leading the line. For a while it seemed a string of fine saves from Jasper Cillessen would deny Spurs, but then Kane’s precise cross was easily finished by Moura and the English side had the point they needed.
WHAT A GAME🔥
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 11, 2018
✋⚽✋ @JasperCillessen pic.twitter.com/xHe4D84y9L
Valverde rings the changes
The big pre-match talking point from Barcelona’s perspective was how much manager Ernesto Valverde would rotate, torn between the desire to win the game and the knowledge that his team had already wrapped up first place in the group.
The delivery of the teamsheets an hour before kick-off delivered the answer loud and clear. No Messi, no Pique, no Alba, no Busquets, no Ter Stegen. Valverde had opted to ring the changes big-time, placing his trust in untested youngsters like central midfielder Carles Alena and left-back Juan Miranda alongside a handful of fringe performers such as Thomas Vermaelen and Munir.
Some fared better than others. Alena was quietly excellent in the centre of midfield, strengthening the growing feeling that he is a legitimate option as a starter for any game, while Vermaelen showed himself to be a reliable centre-back option when he stays fit and Cillessen made some great saves.
But deputy left-back Miranda looked well short of the standard required to compete at this level, and Munir made no impact whatsoever up front – although in fairness he had no service.
Dembele does it again
🔵🔴 Ousmane Dembélé has been directly involved in 9 goals in his last 9 games for Barcelona in all competitions (4 goals, 5 assists).👌#UCL pic.twitter.com/inIKs06GtT
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 11, 2018
One player who was left in the starting line-up by Valverde was Dembele, who responded by scoring a truly memorable goal for the second successive game.
On Saturday night at Espanyol, the French forward’s special moment with a glorious curler into the top corner, and on this occasion he snapped into a challenge to dispossess the dithering Walker-Peters on the halfway line and raced forward to evade two challenges before sliding a low finish under Hugo Lloris.
In truth, that spectacular strike was followed by a typically frustrating performance, full of needlessly conceded possession and strange passing choices. But that’s par for the course with Dembele, a high-reward, high-risk player who is equally likely to win a game single-handedly or gift the opposition a chance to score with a sloppy mistake.
