Lucas Moura’s late equaliser sends Spurs through to knockout phase

Tottenham Hotspur managed a 1:1 draw at Spanish giants Barcelona to secure a place in the Champions League Last 16 on Tuesday night.

Barca coach Ernesto Valverde’s side welcomed Mauricio Pochettino’s men to the Nou Camp with the visitors desperately needing the points in order to join the Spanish giants in the knockout stages of the competition.

Spurs had to better the result between Inter Milan would get against PSV Eindhoven at the San Siro in order to go through. As a result, a defeat to Barcelona could work in order for Spurs as long as Inter also lost to PSV.

With the Catalan side already through, they decided to leave the big names of Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, Arturo Vidal on the bench.

Harry Kane returned to Spurs’ front line to spearhead the attack in a vital clash.

It took seven minutes for the first bit of action to come along with Ousmane Dembele taking the chance to capitalise on Kyle Walker-Peters’ mistake on the halfway line before he sped beyond him and slotted in an easy finish past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the penalty area.

The visitors came close around half hour later when Son Heung-min went clear on goal, with Jasper Cillessen stopping the shot with his legs.

The second half was full of chances by Spurs which were defended well by Barcelona and just as things were looking bleak and Thursday nights were set to come in the Europa League for Spurs, Lucas Moira came in and tapped home from 6 yards to make it 1-1 in the 85th minute.

The visiting fans were given a new lease of life and almost given a chance to dream once more of reaching the last 16. The hard work was close to being paid off now.

The final whistle blew at the Nou Camp and for 2 minutes, the Tottenham players held themselves together whilst Inter Milan and PSV held out for a 1-1 draw at the San Siro which means Spurs are through to the last 16 on goal difference.

They became the eighth side to qualify for the knockout stages after only picking up one point from their first three matches.

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