Tottenham Hotspur have one foot in the Carabao Cup final after a narrow 1-0 win over Liverpool on Wednesday night in the first leg of the semi-final in north London.
Teenage midfielder Lucas Bergvall’s 86th-minute strike gives Ange Postecoglou’s side an aggregate lead to defend in the reverse fixture at Anfield next month.
Already depleted Spurs were dealt another blow early on when Rodrigo Bentancur took a nasty fall as he bent to punch the ball into the corner. The Uruguayan was given oxygen on the field before being dragged off, and was later confirmed to be conscious and talking.
Liverpool also lost a player in the first half to injury, with Jarell Quansah appearing to pull up with a muscle problem and leaving the field after 30 minutes.
Both sides had chances to take the lead at different times, with Pedro Porro failing to hit the target at one end following a Liverpool mistake and Trent Alexander-Arnold seeing a shot off the line at the other end. Dominic Solanke even had the ball in the net, but VAR intervened for offside.
Solanke was involved again when Bergvall scored, battling to win the ball from Ibrahima Konate and lay on his young team-mate’s finish. Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky also had a night to remember on his debut, making a superb stoppage-time save to deny Luis Diaz an equaliser.
|
Player |
Evaluation |
|---|---|
|
GK: Antonin Kinsky |
8.8/10 |
|
RB: Pedro Porro |
7.0/10 |
|
CB: Radu Dragušin |
7.4/10 |
|
CB: Archie Gray |
7.6/10 |
|
LB: Grandpa Spence |
8.0/10 |
|
CM: Lucas Bergvall |
8.2/10 |
|
CM: Yves Bissouma |
7.7/10 |
|
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur |
6.2/10 |
|
RW: Dejan Kulusevski |
6.6/10 |
|
ST: Dominic Solanke |
7.5/10 |
|
LW: Son Heung-min (c) |
6.8/10 |
|
SUBSTITUTION: Brennan Johnson (15′ for Bentancur) |
6.2/10 |
|
REPLACEMENT: Timo Werner (72′ for Son) |
6.7/10 |
Subs not used: Brandon Austin (GK), Alfie Dorrington, Sergio Reguilon, Callum Olusesi, Yang Min-Hyeok, Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear.
|
Player |
Evaluation |
|---|---|
|
GK: Alisson |
7.0/10 |
|
RB: Conor Bradley |
6.7/10 |
|
CB: Jarell Quansah |
6.7/10 |
|
CB: Virgil van Dijk (c) |
7.5/10 |
|
LB: Kostas Tsimikas |
7.5/10 |
|
CM: Alexis McAllister |
7.2/10 |
|
CM: Ryan Gravenberch |
6.8/10 |
|
RM: Mohamed Salah |
6.0/10 |
|
AM: Curtis Jones |
6.5/10 |
|
LM: Cody Gakpo |
6.9/10 |
|
ST: Diogo Jota |
6.0/10 |
|
SUBSTITUTION: Wataru Endo (30′ for Quansah) |
6.5/10 |
|
REPLACEMENT: Trent Alexander-Arnold (60′ for Bradley) |
6.8/10 |
|
SUBSTITUTION: Darwin Nunez (60′ for Jota) |
6.6/10 |
|
SUBSTITUTION: Luis Diaz (60′ for Gakpo) |
6.5/10 |
|
SUB: Ibrahima Konata (80′ for Mac Allister) |
6.0/10 |
Subs not used: Caoimhin Kelleher (GK), Andrew Robertson, Harvey Elliott, Federico Chiesa.
Man of the match – Antonin Kinsky (Tottenham)
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