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Matchday 1 of the Champions League group stage kicked off on Wednesday, with Tottenham travelling to Greece to take on Olympiacos.
The hosts came into the match off the back of an amazing eight-game winning sequence in all competitions, while Spurs emphatically defeated Crystal Palace 4-0 over the weekend.
The Premier League side got their first opportunity of the game in the 26th minute when Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi pointed to the spot after Yassine Meriah tripped Harry Kane in the box, sticking to his decision even after a VAR review.
As expected, Harry Kane dusted himself off and dispatched the penalty with aplomb to put Tottenham 1-0 up. That goal came against the run of play, and Pochettino's men soon doubled their advantage with Lucas scoring from right outside the box just four minutes later.
Daniel Podence halved the deficit for the home side right before half-time, with Mathieu Valbuena restoring parity with a well-taken penalty which he had won after a foul by Jan Vertonghen.
Despite both sides' late push for a winner, neither club was able to secure all three points, and on the balance of play, a stalemate was probably a fair result. Here, we shall be taking a look at three talking points from the fixture.
#3 Lucas Moura makes a case for more playing time
Having fallen down the pecking order at PSG in his final two years in the French capital, Lucas Moura arrived in Tottenham in January 2018, and since then he has put up solid displays for the club, scoring 17 goals from 63 appearances in all competitions for the Lily Whites.
The most important of those came in the second leg of the semifinal clash with Ajax last season, where his hat-trick helped Tottenham overturn a 3-0 aggregate deficit to progress to their first ever Champions League final.
However, rather cruelly, the 27-year-old was left out of the starting lineup in the showpiece event, which has been a common theme throughout his Spurs career.
So far this season, the Brazilian has started just two of Tottenham's five Premier League matches and made an immediate impact just 19 seconds after coming off the bench to equalize in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City on matchday 2.
Lucas Moura is a versatile player who offers directness and pace to the attack, and these qualities were brought to the fore in Greece.
Apart from scoring a wonder strike to take Spurs 2-0 up, the former PSG man also starred, keeping the Olympiacos defence on the backfoot with his pace and trickery. Furthermore, his 96.2% passing accuracy was the highest in the game for players who played at least 60 minutes and attempted 15 passes or more.
With Tottenham travelling away to Leicester on Saturday in the Premier League, Lucas Moura did his chances of starting against the Foxes a world of good with his display against Olympiacos, and it would not come as a surprise if he were to star in that game.
#2 Olympiacos reap the rewards of their temerity
As indicated previously, the home side came into the match on an impressive winning run which had seen them score 20 goals and concede just one from eight matches played since July 30.
This kind of form gives immense confidence and backed by a roaring home support of a little over 31,000 passionate fans, Olympiacos took the game to Tottenham, and dominated proceedings early on.
They fashioned a number of chances in the opening stages of the fixture, even hitting the post through Miguel Angel Guerrero in the 19th minute.
However, for all of their pressure, they could not find a way past Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal, and the visitors went 2-0 ahead against the run of play.
However, credit must go to the Erythrolefki for not losing their cool despite the early setback, and they continued to probe and press and finally saw their efforts rewarded when Portuguese Daniel Podence put his effort into the back of the net.
Olympiacos continued from their they left off after the interval, and deservedly got their equalizer in the 58th minute.
In total, the Greek giants fashioned 15 chances with five of those being on target and given how well they played in the game, it would have been a tad unfair if they came out of the fixture empty-handed.
#1 Mathieu Valbuena puts in a man-of-the-match performance
Mathieu Valbuena only arrived Olympiacos over the summer from Fenerbache, but he has not taken long to settle in at the Karaiskakis stadium.
The 34-year-old played an integral role in getting Olympiacos to the group stage of the Champions League, scoring one goal and assisting a further five from six matches during the qualification stage.
In the Greek Super League, he has also starred, scoring two and assisting one from three games to help his side maintain a 100% start in their bid to wrest the title back from PAOK Thessaloniki.
Given his form, it was expected that he would be one of the players who could harm Tottenham, and that proved to be the case, as he was the driving force behind Olympiacos' domination of the game, with his close dribbling and ball control helping his side maintain their bright start to the game.
He ended the game against Tottenham with a goal and assist, providing the pass for Podence to open the scoring for Olympiacos, while he won and subsequently converted a second half penalty to equalize for the home side.
In total, he had two shots, with one of those ending in the back of the net, played three key passes, had a 94.7% passing accuracy from 38 passes attempted and put in four crosses into the box.
Valbuena was substituted for Yassine Benzia in the 69th minute to a rapturous ovation and if the Frenchman is to keep up with this form, there could be no stopping Olympiacos.
