Tottenham Hotspur have one foot in the Carabao Cup final after Wednesday night's narrow 1-0 win over Liverpool in the first leg of their semi-final tie in north London.
An 86th-minute strike from teenage midfielder Lucas Bergvall gives Ange Postecoglou's side a commanding lead to defend in the reverse fixture at Anfield next month.
An already depleted Spurs were dealt another blow early on when Rodrigo Bentancur suffered a nasty fall as he stooped to head the ball in for a corner. The Uruguayan was given oxygen on the pitch before being stretchered off and later confirmed to be conscious and talking.
Liverpool also lost a player to injury in the first half, with Jarell Quansah appearing to withdraw with a muscle problem and leaving the field after 30 minutes.
Both sides had chances to take the lead at various points, with Pedro Porro failing to hit the target at one end following Liverpool's mistake and Trent Alexander-Arnold seeing an effort cleared off the line at the other. Dominic Solanke even had the ball in the net but VAR intervened for offside.
Solanke was involved again as Bergvall scored, battling to win the ball from Ibrahima Konate and laying on the end for his new team-mate. Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky also had a night to remember on his debut, making a superb save on the break to deny Luis Diaz an equaliser.
|
Player |
ASSESSMENT |
|---|---|
|
GK: Antonin Kinsky |
8.8/10 |
|
RB: Pedro Porro |
7.0/10 |
|
CB: Radu Dragusin |
7.4/10 |
|
CB: Archie Grey |
7.6/10 |
|
LB: Uncle Spence |
8.0/10 |
|
CM: Lucas Bergvall |
8.2/10 |
|
CM: Yves Bissouma |
7.7/10 |
|
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur |
6.2/10 |
|
RW: Dejan Kulusevski |
6.6/10 |
|
ST: Dominic Solanke |
7.5/10 |
|
LW: Son Heung-min (c) |
6.8/10 |
|
SUB: Brennan Johnson (15' for Bentancur) |
6.2/10 |
|
SUB: Timo Werner (72' for Son) |
6.7/10 |
Subs not used: Brandon Austin (GK), Alfie Dorrington, Sergio Reguilon, Callum Olusesi, Yang Min-Hyeok, Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear.
|
Player |
ASSESSMENT |
|---|---|
|
GK: Alisson |
7.0/10 |
|
RB: Conor Bradley |
6.7/10 |
|
CB: Jarell Quansah |
6.7/10 |
|
CB: Virgil van Dijk (c) |
7.5/10 |
|
LB: Kostas Tsimikas |
7.5/10 |
|
CM: Alexis McAllister |
7.2/10 |
|
CM: Ryan Gravenberch |
6.8/10 |
|
RM: Mohamed Salah |
6.0/10 |
|
AM: Curtis Jones |
6.5/10 |
|
LM: Cody Gakpo |
6.9/10 |
|
ST: Diego Jota |
6.0/10 |
|
SUB: Wataru Endo (30' for Quansah) |
6.5/10 |
|
SUB: Trent Alexander-Arnold (60' for Bradley) |
6.8/10 |
|
SUB: Darwin Nunez (60' for Jota) |
6.6/10 |
|
SUB: Luis Diaz (60' for Steel) |
6.5/10 |
|
SUB: Ibrahima Konate (80' for Mac Allister) |
6.0/10 |
Subs not used: Caoimhin Kelleher (GK), Andrew Robertson, Harvey Elliott, Federico Chiesa.