Well, it’s safe to say that Tottenham Hotspur exceeded most people’s expectations last night.
The Ange Postecoglou team headed to Eintracht Frankfurt from the back of a 4-2 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderlers in the Premier League towards the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinals.
However, the people of North London perform in the evening, showing that when they are close to their best, they can be the real power to be considered.
In fact, there was a great display across the pitch from visitors, but the couple really stood out and now unprogrammable, including Dominique Solanke.
Solanke’s Game vs Frankfurt
It was a challenging few months for Spurs’ record signing. Since returning from a knee injury at the end of February, he has not been able to score in eight league and Europa League matches until his ninth appearance last night.
After James Madison scored a penalty on Lily White in the 38th minute, it was up to the former Bournemouth star to clean it up, and with a well-placed shot along the way, he did just that.
However, it wasn’t just the goal that made his performance so impressive as the British ran all the games to the ground. That’s to create a chance for teammates or put pressure on the hosts’ backlines and avoid gaining any kind of footing in the game.
Naturally, the watching press was equally impressed. Alasdair Gold awarded the poachers a full-time 8/10 match rating, writing that “gived it all,” Frankfurt “didn’t have a quiet moment with him.”
In short, it was a display that could not be criticized for him in the semi-finals.
Now the unorthodox Spurs Star
So, since last night, a few other starters have done solid shows, from Lucas Bergval and Rodrigo Bentancourt to Massies Tell and Destiny Udogui, but when it comes to the other star of the night, it has to be Christian Romero.
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As one of the club’s co-captains, he was the World Cup winner led by last night’s example, and may have had one of his crazy trademark moments towards the end of the match, but he was simply amazing for the rest of the game.
Alongside centre-back partner Mickey Van Deven, Argentina restricted the hosts from getting serious opportunities in goal, and in addition to that, he played the ball to Madison.
Like Solanke, former Juventus gems left a considerable impression on gold. He awarded him a 9/10 match rating, and put “one of the best displays of the season” with the writing that he “protected well.”
It may sound like an exaggeration, but it’s not really, and the defender’s stats help to explain further how good he is.
For example, in his 97-minute action, he accumulated expected goals, assisted with a 0.44 number, made 10 clearances, blocked one shot, created four intercepts and two tackles, won nine out of 12 duels, lost just seven balls, took 71 touches, played one key pass, and completed 100% of 100% dribbling.
Romero’s Game | |
---|---|
Min | 97′ |
Expected goals | 0.15 |
Expected assist | 0.29 |
clearance | 10 |
Blocked shot | 1 |
Intercept | 4 |
Tackle | 2 |
The past dribbling | 0 |
Ground duel (winning) | 6 (5) |
Aerial duel (winning) | 6 (4) |
Lost Ownership | 7 |
touch | 71 |
The foul won | 1 |
Key Pass | 1 |
A big opportunity has been created | 1 |
Dribbling (success) | 2 (2) |
All statistics via sofa score |
Ultimately, it was a great performance by Spurs last night, a better individual performance by Romero, making him simply impossible to repeat for the rest of the campaign.
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Tottenham Hotspur booked their place in the Europa League semi-finals with a 1-0 victory over Eintrohat Frankfurt.