Juventus 2-3 Tottenham: 5 Men who were brilliant for Spurs
Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur started off their pre-season by facing each other at the Singapore National Stadium on Sunday. Both sides had contrasting fortunes last season; while Juventus won the Serie A as well as the Supercoppa Italiana, Tottenham lost to Liverpool in the Champions League final and only managed to finish 4th in the Premier League.
This game as such was an opportunity for both managers to assess their team ahead of the new season. For Mauricio Pochettino though, the stakes were a bit higher.
The Argentine finally had his team playing his brand of football, but silverware had still eluded him. Pochettino had even identified the areas of improvement from last season and Spurs had gone all out for the signature of Tanguy Ndombele. The Argentinean as such was ready to test his mettle against old foe Maurizio Sarri and identify his first eleven ahead of the new season.
Pochettino started with Gazzaniga in goal, while Georgiou, Tanganga, Alderweireld and Walker-Peters made up the back 4. He selected Dele Alli and Skipp either side of Winks in a 3-man midfield, while Son, Lamela and Parrott made up the front three.
Spurs started the game brighter and took the lead through Lamela in the 30th minute. However, Juventus hit back in the second half, equalizing through Higuain and then taking the lead through Ronaldo. Lucas Moura brought his club back into the game and then Harry Kane scored a sensational 93rd minute goal to give Tottenham a memorable win.
Here are the 5 men who were brilliant for Pochettino and won the game for Tottenham.
#5 Toby Alderweireld
The Belgian was rock solid at the back for Tottenham and despite having young Tanganga for company, looked every bit the player who had attracted attention from Manchester United.
Toby Alderweireld had the massive task of keeping Ronaldo at bay and for the majority of the first half, he was able to do so. The Portuguese did get a couple of chances to score, but Alderweireld closed him down in a flash on both occasions. Needless to say, Juventus had little joy in the final third as long as Alderweireld was on the field.
The Belgian was ultimately substituted during the break, but by then, Alderweireld had already shown he is ready for the new season.