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Tottenham Hotspur were defeated 0-1 by RB Leipzig at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight, putting a major dent in their hopes of making the Champions League quarter-finals. It was a frustrating night all round for Jose Mourinho’s side, who were clearly struggling without a recognised striker following the latest injury to Son Heung Min.
Leipzig largely dominated the first half of the game, creating multiple chances while Spurs did little but huff and puff, but by the time the whistle blew for half-time, the German side had nothing to show for their dominance. Tottenham played a little better in the second half, but eventually fell behind when Timo Werner scored from the spot following a foul by Ben Davies on Konrad Laimer.
Mourinho’s side were able to carve out a couple of late chances, largely due to the injection of energy from substitutes Erik Lamela and Tanguy Ndombele, but were unable to find an equaliser – leaving them needing at least two goals in the return leg to get through.
Here are the hits and flops from tonight’s game.
Hit: Timo Werner
Despite Leipzig’s general dominance in this game, proper chances were hard to come by for Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Hugo Lloris made a string of strong saves in the first half in particular while Leipzig’s forwards also saw shots blocked, and so when they were awarded a second-half penalty it was crucial that the taker kept his head. After all, Lloris had saved the last penalty he’d faced – Ilkay Gundogan’s kick for Manchester City earlier this month.
Timo Werner – who has been linked with a big-money move to Liverpool in recent weeks – stepped forward to take the kick and thankfully for the Bundesliga side, the German international was apparently the coolest man in North London. He fired his shot low and hard into the right-hand corner of the goal, away from the despairing Lloris’ dive.
Overall it wasn’t the greatest performance overall from Werner, who wasted his other big chance – a shot directly at Lloris in the first half – but when it came down to it he kept his cool and scored the winner – making him a hit on the night for sure.
Flop: Serge Aurier
Tonight saw another frustrating performance from Tottenham’s right-back Serge Aurier, who Jose Mourinho almost certainly needs to replace – or at least find an alternative to – this summer. The Ivorian found himself in great positions on numerous occasions, but was simply wasteful with the ball throughout the match, ending with a disappointing pass success rate of just 64%.
Aurier hinted at the poor showing that was to come before the ten-minute mark; a shoddy pass from him led to Giovani Lo Celso having to make a reckless lunge at an opponent, causing him to be booked and thus have to slow down his all-action style for fear of receiving a red card later in the game.
In the second half, meanwhile, Aurier lost the ball on a number of occasions – more than any other player in the game – and also saw his crosses get far too close to either Leipzig’s defenders or their goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. This was one to forget for the Ivorian international.
Hit: Ethan Ampadu
Tottenham had plenty of injury concerns leading into this match, most notably shorn of any kind of genuine striker, but the same could be said for Leipzig, who were missing key central defenders Willi Orban, Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano. That meant that Julian Nagelsmann made a risky call, selecting Chelsea loanee Ethan Ampadu – who has yet to start a Bundesliga match this season – in the centre of his team’s defence.
Thankfully for Nagelsmann, the Welsh international barely put a foot wrong all game, showing that the hype that surrounded him around 18 months ago was probably well-deserved. Ampadu shut Tottenham’s attackers out throughout the game, making 5 interceptions – more than any other player during the game – and 2 clearances.
Ampadu was also fantastic on the ball – registering a 95% pass success rate – and his last-ditch tackle on Steven Bergwijn in the dying seconds of the match may well have saved the game for the Bundesliga side. Tonight was a major opportunity for the Chelsea loanee and he grabbed it with both hands.
Flop: Dele Alli
Shorn of top goalscorers Son Heung Min and Harry Kane, one school of thought from Tottenham fans regarding a solution was for Jose Mourinho to play Dele Alli as a makeshift striker, with Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn in the wider positions with Giovani Lo Celso acting as the team’s creative hub. Mourinho evidently disagreed, deploying Lucas as the main striker with Alli sitting in front of Harry Winks and Gedson Fernandes, who were operating as deeper-lying midfielders.
Unfortunately, the decision didn’t pay off, and Alli suffered one of his worst games in recent memory. The England man made just 16 passes during the game, and while 14 of them were accurate, none of them were key passes, largely belying his supposedly creative role. And when he found himself in decent positions in the box, he didn’t come close to scoring – failing to register a shot.
A frustrating night ended with Alli throwing his boots down after being substituted in the 64th minute – and worse for him, his replacement Erik Lamela re-energised the side. The truth is that it wasn’t so much Alli’s fault; he’s just not a playmaker and his best matches under Mourinho this season came when he was allowed to play further forward as a pseudo-forward. Hopefully the Portuguese recognises this – otherwise Alli could be in for more frustrating performances.
Hit: Giovani Lo Celso
On an under-par night in general for Tottenham, their best player was comfortably midfielder Giovani Lo Celso. The Argentine wasn’t even deployed in his best position tonight, starting as a pseudo-winger while Dele Alli played in a more central role, but despite an early booking, he worked hard for the entire match and essentially, anything good that Spurs produced went through him.
Lo Celso registered 3 shots, 2 of them on target – the most of any Tottenham player – and he came closest to breaking down Leipzig’s defensive solidity when he hit a beautiful left-footed free-kick towards the right-hand side of the goal – only for Peter Gulacsi to use his fingertips to turn it onto the post.
More tellingly, along with Harry Winks – who was also impressive – it was Lo Celso who appeared to be driving his teammates on during the stickier patches of the game, sprinting back to attempt to win back the ball and pressuring Leipzig’s players, even if his efforts didn’t really come off. In the post-Christian Eriksen era, the Argentine is cementing himself as perhaps the key man for Spurs.
