Son Heung-min produced a scintillating performance to help Tottenham come from behind and pick up a valuable win against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Spurs desperately needed a win after being held to a 0-0 draw in the return fixture in Germany last week, but found themselves behind after a stuttering start. In the end it took the attack to dig out the nervy defence – and there was no doubt about the star of the show.
Eric Dier made a dreadful start to the match, following an early yellow card with a calamitous heavy touch which eventually allowed Daichi Kamada a simple tap-in just 14 minutes into the must-win match. But after 20 minutes of nothing, Tottenham clicked into gear, in the most familiar of fashions.
Harry Kane dropped deep, spun his man and fed the ball in behind the Frankfurt defence for Son to race in and coolly slot past Kevin Trapp to make it 1-1. Then the floodgates opened. Kane made it 2-1 from the penalty spot shortly after Kristijan Jakic clumsily stepped across the Spurs striker’s path in the box.
Kane’s first goal of the Champions League campaign was followed by the moment of the night as Son provided a spectacular volley to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s chipped cross. It could easily have been 4-1 at the break, but Trapp got down well to push out Cristian Romero’s downward header on the stroke of half-time.
Tottenham had done the hard work, but they didn’t ease off in the second half. Richarlison was eager to make the most of his start after being benched on the weekend and drove determinedly down the right hand side to cross for Ryan Sessegnon, only for Trapp to save once more.
Frankfurt’s chances of a comeback looked to have ended when Tuta collected two yellow cards within six minutes. By now the combination of Son and Kane were running riot and the German side could not cope.
Yet Frankfurt did not become Europa League champions by chance. They grabbed a goal back through Faride Alidou's towering header from a late corner. Spurs should have hit back almost immediately when Hrvoje Smolcic tripped Bryan Gil to give Kane another penalty, but he blazed over the bar.
In the end it didn't matter and the identity of Tottenham’s match-winner was appropriate, given the South Korean star’s words in the pre-match press conference, when he encouraged his teammates to follow Antonio Conte’s demands to the letter.
He said: “It's important, last season nobody believed we would be here right now, nobody believed we'd be in the Champions League. The gaffer always wants more, more, more – and as a player I want to follow his way, or you know what's coming.
"If we don't follow him, then you know you'll struggle. We have to follow – there is no option because he's a winner and I think we have to sacrifice and do the hard things.”
Tottenham just about did the hard things and, eventually after a needlessly nervous ending, they reaped the rewards. Marseille’s 2-0 win over Sporting Lisbon played perfectly into the Premier League side’s hands, sending Conte’s team top of Group D, with seven points from four games.
After a slow start to the competition, they now appear to be clicking into gear, with Son and Kane leading the way. Now the defence needs to catch up.
