Tottenham Hotspur have set a low bar for reasons to be cheerful this season and on Wednesday night, they cleared it comfortably. Sure, they were knocked out of the Champions League round of 16 7-5 on aggregate by Atletico Madrid but, believe it or not, that was a sign that things are looking up quite considerably.
So, they didn’t substitute their goalkeeper after 17 minutes, as they had in the first leg in Madrid last week. They weren’t 4-0 down after 22 minutes. They won a match with a last minute penalty, a victory to go with their hard-fought point at Anfield at the weekend. They played with pride and cohesion. Their captain, Cristian Romero, even made a rare appearance between suspensions.
They deserved their 3-2 win as well, a modest triumph that will not have done their morale any harm. If they can play like this when Nottingham Forest visit north London on Sunday in the biggest match of Spurs’ season, then they will consign their relegation fears to the rear-view mirror.
Spurs brought out Toby Alderweireld to talk to the crowd before the game and evoke memories of the magical night in Amsterdam in 2019 when Spurs came from behind to beat Ajax and make it through to the Champions League final.
The time that has elapsed since has been less of a seven-year itch and more a seven-year hitch. This Spurs team is a long, long way from returning to the showpiece occasion of European club football.
And just as Real Madrid had shown little interest in being sacrificial lambs for a Manchester City comeback story at the Etihad on Tuesday night, so their cross-town rivals exhibited no appetite for being patsies in the story of an unlikely Spurs revival.
Xavi Simons twice as Tottenham beat Atletico Madrid on the night, but bowed out of the Champions League
Igor Tudor’s side looked an entirely different team, a team with purpose and determination and even some coherence
Randal Kolo Muani put Spurs ahead in the first half by heading into Mathys Tel’s cross
Ademola Lookman had the ball in the back of the Tottenham net after six minutes but the linesman flagged and replays showed he had strayed offside. Antoine Griezmann ran the show for the visitors. Marcos Llorente skipped past Spurs challenges at will.
But Spurs were playing well. They looked an entirely different team, a team with purpose and determination and even some coherence, and they caused Atletico problems, too, particularly down the Tottenham left, where Djed Spence and Mathys Tel combined well.
But it was from the Spurs right that their opening goal came on the half-hour. Tel found a pocket of space close to the corner of the area and curled in a lovely cross towards Kolo Muani. Kolo Muani peeled away from his marker and rose majestically to head the ball down and past Juan Musso into the corner.
Spurs should have added a second goal seven minutes later. Archie Gray burst forward from midfield and the ball was worked quickly to Kolo Muani and then to Xavi Simons who swept it into the path of Tel. Tel might have crossed to Gray but he tried to clip the ball past Musso and the goalkeeper blocked it.
Atleti looked startled by the quality of Spurs’ performance. Everyone did. But Simeone’s side nearly levelled the scores on the stroke of the interval. When a corner was half-cleared, Giuliano Simeone lashed a shot goalwards and it flicked off the head of Romero.
Guglielmo Vicario had dived to anticipate the original trajectory of the ball but now he had to readjust. The Spurs keeper has come in for much criticism recently but this time, he pulled off a brilliant save, clawing the ball away as he fell.
His heroics were in vain. Two minutes after the interval, Atleti grabbed the equaliser. Simons fell in a heap on the edge of the Atleti area after he was dispossessed by Julian Alvarez but the German referee waved play on.
Atleti broke at pace and fed Lookman down the left. Lookman played the ball inside to Alvarez, who controlled the ball and turned and smashed an unstoppable right-foot shot across Vicario and into the roof of the net.
Julian Alvarez drove a powerful effort into the top corner to dent hopes of a comeback
Xaxi Simons curled a fine finish into the bottom corner to put Spurs ahead for a second time
David Hancko headed in Atletico’s second of the night with a near post header from a corner
Simons ensured Spurs won on the night with a penalty to boost confidence ahead of their crunch clash against Nottingham Forest on Sunday
The Spurs crowd was crestfallen. But their players did not allow their heads to drop. Four minutes after Atleti’s equaliser, Tudor’s side took the lead on the night again. Gray was again the driving force. Simons exchanged passes with him and then bent a shot past Musso into the corner from 20 yards.
Spurs threw everything at Atleti now. Simons played Pedro Porro in on goal and Porro tried to bend the ball around Musso with the outside of his right foot. Musso was equal to it and beat it away with his gloves.
The atmosphere grew fraught. Lookman shoved Radu Dragusin in the chest and Dragusin collapsed in faux agony, as is the custom. The referee showed Lookman the yellow card he deserved. He was substituted soon afterwards.
Alvarez could have scored a second with a brilliant run down the left and a quicksilver feint that fooled Micky Van de Ven but Vicario, once again, stood in his way and blocked his close range shot with his chest.
But 15 minutes from the end, Atletico finally ended Spurs’ comeback hopes. Alvarez turned provider this time, swinging in a corner to the near post, where it was met by David Hancko, who glanced it past Vicario from close range.
But Spurs still did not give in. Simons was fouled in the box by substitute Jose Maria Gimenez in the last minute and he got up to dispatch the penalty confidently. It was not enough to win the tie but it has helped to transform the mood at this club.
Forest are next and, suddenly, they will not be relishing their trip to this stadium quite as much as they might have been a fortnight ago.
