Tottenham 2-0 Zagreb: Harry Kane double gives Spurs the advantage ahead of away encounter

Tottenham Hotspur

Harry Kane scored two successive double in five days to register a home win for Tottenham Hotspur in their first leg round-of-16 match against Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia Tottenham Stadium this evening.

Tottenham Hotspur had the entire team available apart from Lo Celso in the UEFA Europa League encounter, which the Spurs manager had won a few seasons back.

Spurs awe-inspiring front-line Son, Kane and Bale, though expected to start, were not seen today, as Jose Mourinho decided to start with Son, Kane and Lamela. Only in the 64th minute, the Portuguese manager brought Bale, Moura and Bergwijn in place of Lamela, Son and Alli. Perhaps the “Special One” was willing to provide everyone with some game-time ahead of London-derby.

As usual, the score-sheet has to have Harry Kane’s name, and though he was replaced with Carlos Vinicius at the 84th minute, he had registered two goals by his name. He became the highest goal scorer with eight goals in Europa League this season until now.

For the first goal, it was Eric Lamela who did all the hard work. As his shot from close range hit the right post, Kane was there for simple conversion. Almost the same happened at the 70th minute when an Aurier cross landed in front of Harry Kane because of some defensive error. Kane made no mistake and provided Sours winning 2-0 lead.

Gareth Bale produced two sumptuous moments. He put a pin-pointed cross for Bergwijn from right wing with Golf-like precision. Second one was a free-kick from 30 yards which was saved by Zagreb keeper Dominik Livakovic.

Spurs could have gone to a 2-0 lead much earlier, as they were denied a controversial penalty. The replay showed the Tanguy Ndombele was tripped inside the box. VAR did not intervene, and the match continued to the utter dismay of the match commentators.

Tottenham will play Dinamo Zagreb at Stadion Maksimir, Croatia, on 19th March. They will play Arsenal and Aston Villa in the Premier League. These matches would mostly decide their top-four finish in Premier League and Champions League berth for next season.