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“If only we had our England boys” – Some Tottenham fans react to loss vs Barcelona + Match Report

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Barcelona 2-2 Tottenham: Blaugrana clinch the tie via penalty shootout

In an entertaining pre-season game in California, Barcelona beat Tottenham Hotspur on penalties to kick off their International Champions Cup campaign with a win. Goals from Arthur and Munir El-Haddadi gave the Catalans a perfect start in the first half but Spurs came back in the second period and levelled things up through Heung-Min Son and Kevin N’Koudou.

Barcelona got their lead around the 15th minute when Rafinha made a good run at the far post and was found with a diagonal pass. The Brazilian knocked it down for El-Haddadi to score from point-blank range. For the start they had, the Catalans thoroughly deserved this goal.

Arthur

Fifteen minutes later, Arthur scored a stunning goal around the half-hour mark to illuminate the stage. The new signing from Gremio curled in an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga to double the lead for the La Liga champions.

Spurs never looked like being in the game in the first half, down by two goals, and were out of shape on most occasions.

The Premier League club did come back more strongly in the second half, with the likes of Christian Eriksen, Son and Lucas Moura combining well. An Eriksen set-piece hit the woodwork in the 52nd minute.

Christian Eriksen

However, with 18 minutes still remaining, there was a goal-mouth scramble around the Barcelona box and the ball fell to Son, who passed it into the bottom corner. This goal gave Spurs the belief to continue the charge against a relatively inexperienced backline.

We equalised within two minutes of the restart when N’Koudou thumped home after the Barcelona defence failed to clear the lines.

The match went to penalties and Tottenham looked like the favourites with more experienced players available to take the spot-kicks. However, Jasper Cillissen was the hero when he went the right way to save a rather tame penalty from Anthony Georgiou. Malcom then stepped up to score the decisive kick of the match by coolly slotting the ball past Michel Vorm.

Malcom

Here’s how the fans reacted to Tottenham’s game against Barcelona:

This guy dreamt of Harry Kane coming on to participate in the shoot-outs.

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