Key events
17 min: Kudus dribbles elegantly down the right, sitting down a couple of defenders before cutting back for Bentancur, whose shot is deflected behind for a corner. Simons takes the set piece but it’s easily cleared.
15 min: There’s a lovely shot of Junior’s calamity from behind the goal. You can see the keeper’s face crumble in impotent distress as the ball spins backwards off his palms, beginning its inexorable journey towards the net. Nothing can be done, his fate sealed. One of the great goalkeeping howlers. Ah well, at least it’s not the final. Oh Loris.
13 min: … a game of head tennis briefly breaks out before Richarlison clears.
12 min: Pepe advances down the inside-right channel and sidefoots a shot towards the bottom left. It takes a nick off Van de Ven and flies out for a corner. From which …
10 min: In other pantomime news, Pepe, formerly of fellow north-London concern Arsenal, is roundly booed as he probes gingerly down the right. It’s shaping up to be a long evening for a couple of Villarreal players.
8 min: Junior is going to cop for a lot of flak this evening after that dismal mistake. Now he races out of his box to head a long pass clear. Successfully so, but the crowd ooh sarcastically anyway.
6 min: That was an absurd error. Up the other end, Vicario makes a more positive intervention, punching Buchanan’s left-wing cross clear with some conviction, under pressure from Mikautadze. Pérez returns the ball, his speculative shot deflected out for a corner from which nothing comes. Lively start.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Villarreal (Luiz Júnior og 4)
Bergvall is sent scampering down the right flank. He looks for Richarlison in the middle with a low cross. Junior dives to claim, but in diving forward to collect, allows the ball to squirt out of his hands, backwards, and into the bottom right. What a huge blunder! What a gift! What a start for Spurs!
2 min: Foyth’s first act on his return to north London is to clatter into Richarlison, knocking him upside the head in an aerial duel. The resulting free kick is launched long, and Van de Ven tees up Simons, who screeches a first-time shot over the bar from distance. A statement of intent from Simons on his home debut.
Spurs get the ball rolling. More accurately, Vicario launches it. Simons nearly brings it down on the edge of the Villarreal box. Nearly, but not quite.
Here come the teams! Spurs in their famous lilywhite, Villarreal in submarine yellow. Sky of dark blue, pitch of green. “Champions of Europe, we know what we are,” trill the N17 faithful, not entirely in keeping with Uefa-approved definitions, but you get the gist of their argument. We’ll be off in a minute or two.
Thomas Frank speaks to Amazon Prime. “We are just waiting … let’s get the show started … I’m very humble about it … very privileged to stand here today … hopefully a good performance and a win … happy for this opportunity … we have had a good start … must be consistent … level-headed in good times and bad times … I will suck in [the atmosphere] but when the whistle goes it’s boom … I am looking forward to seeing the team … we try to use the squad … Lucas Bergvall was really good against West Ham … give a young player momentum … it’s nice to have good options … we teach players to be considered and calm.”
Spurs captain Cristian Romero has been doing what he does, telling it like he sees it. “I did a lot of interviews which seemed like I was talking badly about people inside the club but in the end I’m a person who sometimes makes mistakes and that’s it. I always want the best for the club.”
Tottenham make two changes to the side that started the 3-0 Premier League win at West Ham. Rodrigo Bentancur replaces João Palhinha in midfield, the latter dropping to the bench. Meanwhile Mathys Tel isn’t in Tottenham’s Champions League squad, so his place up front is taken by Richarlison. Xavi Simons makes his home debut.
Villarreal are captained by defender Juan Foyth, who made 16 Premier League appearances for Spurs between 2017 and 2020. The Yellow Submarine have won five of their last seven European fixtures, and their last two away games in the Champions League group/league phase. Manor Solomon, on loan from Spurs, is eligible to face his parent club and is on the bench.
The teams
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Spence, Sarr, Bentancur, Bergvall, Kudus, Richarlison, Simons.
Subs: Kinsky, Austin, Danso, Joao Palhinha, Udogie, Gray, Johnson, Odobert, Davies, Muani, Scarlett, Byfield.
Villarreal: Junior, Mourino, Foyth, Veiga, Cardona, Buchanan, Comesana, Gueye, Pepe, Mikautadze, Perez.
Subs: Navarro, Pedraza, Oluwaseyi, Moleiro, Partey, Akhomach, Parejo, Solomon, Marin, Conde, Tenas, Altimira.
Referee: Rade Obrenovic (Slovenia).
Villarreal have made it to the semi-finals twice in their short European history. (They only made their continental debut in 2002.) On both occasions English opposition did for them: Arsenal beat them in 2006, while Liverpool survived a second-leg scare in 2022.
Spurs have been at it a whole lot longer, and reached the semi-finals on debut in 1962, losing out to Eusébio’s Benfica. They’ve made it as far as the final on one occasion, in 2019, but let’s not dwell on their no-show against Liverpool; instead let’s reminisce about the performance that got them there, that comeback against Ajax. Erik ten Hag was never quite the same once Lucas Moura was finished with him.
Preamble
Tottenham Hotspur’s bonus prize for winning last season’s Europa League begins here. They open their Champions League campaign against the 2021 Europa League winners Villarreal. The two clubs can share their war stories of seeing off Manchester United later, but for now there’s a match to be played. The first meeting of the pair kicks off at 8pm UK time. It’s on!
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