Tottenham suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat in the first instalment of their pre-season friendly double-header against Bayern Munich despite a fine strike from Pedro Porro.
The Portuguese right-back blasted home a brilliant effort from outside the box to halve the deficit at a sold-out Seoul World Cup Stadium on Saturday, but it was not enough to spark a late Spurs comeback as Vincent Kompany’s impressive Bayern - without former Tottenham talisman Harry Kane in South Korea due to the England captain’s post-Euro 2024 break - held on during an end-to-end finish to claim a valuable victory courtesy of earlier goals from Gabriel Vidovic and Leon Goretzka.
The two sides are due to meet again at the Tottenham Hotspur next Saturday (August 10) in the Visit Malta Cup in north London, with Kane still set to be absent after the Three Lions’ exhausting run to the European Championship final in Germany.
Saturday marked the first defeat of Spurs’ otherwise impressive pre-season campaign to date, which saw a K-League XI beaten in a seven-goal thriller at the same venue in midweek after victories on home soil over Hearts and QPR were followed by a win over reigning J1 League champions Vissel Kobe in Japan.
For Bayern, their first real test under new boss Kompany was passed after a 14-1 hammering of Rottach-Egern had been followed by a disappointing draw against minnows FC Duren to kick off the former Burnley manager’s reign as the successor to Thomas Tuchel.
Bayern set the tone for a dominant first half in a lively start to proceedings, the pace and guile of young French forward Mathys Tel causing plenty of early issues for a Spurs defence that saw Radu Dragusin partner Ben Davies at centre-back in place of Emerson Royal and Djed Spence at left-back as he fights for his Tottenham future with the likes of Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie all still absent.
James Maddison also came into the team that beat the K-League XI as new signing Lucas Bergvall and young Jamie Donley also dropped to the bench, with Oliver Skipp fit after a knock but Richarlison not involved.
Former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry blazed over at the back post as Bayern - missing plenty of other players themselves including Michael Olise, Jamal Musiala, Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sane, Dayot Upamecano and Matthijs de Ligt, but boosted by the returns of Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich and Thomas Muller - piled on the early pressure, getting their reward inside five minutes when Gnabry seized on a horror mix-up between Guglielmo Vicario and Spence inside the Tottenham box before being denied and 20-year-old forward Vidovic slotting home at the second attempt.
Despite the searing heat and evening humidity in the South Korean capital, and being at a much earlier stage of their pre-season preparations than their opponents, Bayern pressed and played at a real intensity, producing plenty of eye-catching football after a brief Spurs rally that saw Dejan Kulusevski’s shot blocked behind by Josip Stanisic and captain Heung-min Son fire off target in front of an adoring home crowd.
Vicario denied Tel and Son’s South Korea team-mate Kim Min-jae headed over from a corner as Kompany’s men continued to carve out strong first-half chances, Dragusin blocking Gnabry’s effort before Muller and Vidovic almost found opportunities to double their advantage from close range.
Tel fired wide after more fine work from Vidovic, with Gnabry also failing to hit the target before Tel flicked the wrong side of the post again and Vicario saved from Raphael Guerreiro.
Spurs had a rare sight of goal on the stroke of half-time, but Son uncharacteristically hesitated at the back post after fine feet from Maddison and the chance was lost.
Tottenham had been largely outplayed in the first half, but responded with an effective trio of half-time changes as Kulusevski went close along with Swedish youngster Bergvall.
Bryan Zaragoza forced another stop from Vicario after being sent through, with fellow substitute Goretzka then netting at the second time of asking after an initial save from the Italian to make it 2-0 to Bayern following another smart run from Tel.
Son unsuccessfully tried to find a quick route back into the game as Bayern sent on Eric Dier against his former club, with a mistake from the former England defender allowing Son to find Pape Sarr, who was thwarted at close range on the hour mark by back-up goalkeeper Sven Ulreich.
Tottenham did reduce the arrears through a bullet from Porro, whose arrowed strike fizzed into the back of the net with 25 minutes to play.
Bergvall then came within a whisker of a quick-fire equaliser as a cracking, end-to-end contest opened up in the closing stages.
A grandstand finish looked to be coming, but was spoiled somewhat by the raft of substitutions made by both managers.
Adam Aznou went closest to wrapping up the game for Bayern as he sent a low shot narrowly wide of the far post, with Tottenham’s replacement goalkeeper Brandon Austin denying Zaragoza, who saw last-gasp penalty claims waved away.
