Spurs 1-2 Juventus: (match report)
Spurs played their first official pre season match of the season this morning, after they narrowly lost 2-1 to Italian champions Juventus in their first match of the international champions cup in Melbourne. A youthful side, Spurs found it hard to contain the Bianconeri in the opening minutes of the game and the Italian sides class showed after they took the lead in the fifth minute through striker Paulo Dybala. The goal came about after young defender Dominic Ball Lost possession near the half way line with Juventus capitalising on his error as they surged forward through Roberto Pereyra who played through Dybala who expertly slotted home from with in side the box. Dybala almost doubled Juventus lead shortly afterwards after the Argentine latched onto a loose ball before volleying at the Spurs net. However, Michel Vorm denied Dybala with a fine save to thwart the strikers effort. Juventus doubled their lead shortly after Dybala’s chance through defender Medhi Benatia who got on the end of a wonderful first time ball in to the box from Pjanic and the Moroccan expertly despatched his header which looped high over the head of Vorm and in to the back of the net. Spurs had a penalty shout on the half hour mark after youngster Will Miller surged in to the box before being brought down by Benatia, Miller was unfortunate not to have been awarded the penalty.
Juventus had the first real chance of the second half in the 53rd minute after the ball came to Miralem Pjanic in the box however, the Bosnian international lashed the ball high over the bar from close range. Soon afterwards a good chance came the Lillywhites way after Janssen played the ball in to Lamela whose shot from 20 yards out was deflected narrowly wide of the right post. However, it was the substitute Lamela who scored for Spurs in the 67th minute after sprinting into the area the Argentine received the ball at his feet and made no mistake as he expertly tucked the ball in to the bottom right hand corner of the net. The goal had a lot to do with Wanyama’s great reading of the game after the Kenyan expertly won the ball in the middle of the park which in doing so helped create the attack. Star man Lamela almost grabbed an equaliser with less than ten minutes remaining of the game, after Shayon Harrison passed to him in the box, Lamela hit a powerful shot straight at Neto who thwarted the ball away from danger. It was almost a dramatic ending to the game for Spurs as deep in stoppage time younger Shayon Harrison went desperately close to taking the game to penalties after Lamela danced his way through the Juventus defence before playing in the young striker whose low range shot was saved well from the cat like reflexes of Neto who got down to deny Harrison a goal on his senior debut.
The final score was 2-1 to the Italian champions and although it was a pre season friendly the lads should be proud of their performance as an extremely young Spurs side were narrowly denied a draw against top class opposition. The exceptionally talented 17 year old Marcus Edwards was highly impressive when he was introduced in the second half as too were the other youngsters that played with Harrison, Miller and Amos having a fine game. Wanyama was excellent with in the midfield as he provided great steel to Spurs’s game however, my man of the match has got to be Erik Lamela whose impact on the second half was top class, with Lamela scoring as well as being an extremely potent forward throughout the second half, the winger looks in great form ahead of next season. Up next for Pochettino’s side is our final game of the international champions cup which is against Spanish side Atletico Madrid on Friday at 11:00am, i shall provide a preview for that match in the coming days. COYS⚽️
Juventus: Neto; Lirola, Benatia (Marrone 46), Rugani (Moreno 79), Alex Sandro (Coccolo 79); Lemina (Macek 79), Hernanes (Severin 79), Asamoah (Vitale 66); Pjanic (Parodi 66), Pereyra (Cerri 46); Dybala (Rosseti 79). Substitutes (not used): Audero, Del Favero, Loria, Blanco, Kastanos, Padovan.
Spurs: Vorm; Trippier (Walkes 63), Ball (Amos 79), Carter-Vickers, Miller (Yedlin 46); Mason (c, Winks 46), Wanyama; Son (Lamela 46), Carroll (Edwards 63), Chadli (Onomah 46); Janssen (Harrison 63). Substitutes (not used): McGee, Glover, Walker-Peters.
Goals: Juventus – Dybala 6, Benatia 14. Spurs – Lamela 67.
Yellow card: Juventus – Lirola 88.
(Photo courtesy of Kristian Ross.)
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