Tottenham Hotspur vs Juventus: 5 reasons why Kane will outshine Dybala
The Champions League returns this week and Wednesday night sees one of the most highly anticipated second leg ties, as Tottenham host Italian champions Juventus. The first leg at the Allianz Stadium ended in a 2-2 draw, meaning everything is still to play for at Wembley.
With both teams hopeful of reaching the last eight, both Spurs and Juve will be looking at their key players to be the ones to make the difference. For Tottenham, their obvious go-to man is striker Harry Kane, while for Juventus, Argentine forward Paulo Dybala will be looking to have a huge impact.
Only one team can go through, though – and so here are five reasons why Kane will outshine Dybala and fire Spurs into the quarters.
#1 Juventus have to attack – leaving themselves more open
Despite going into the second leg with the score level at 2-2, due to the away goals rule, it’s Tottenham who will have an advantage in the tie. Juventus essentially need to beat Tottenham or gain a higher-scoring draw than 2-2 to qualify, and so for all intents and purposes, their usual, more defensive gameplan simply won’t cut it.
Juventus were the lowest scoring side to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament, meaning they’re just not used to pushing forward and attacking a team like say, Liverpool or Real Madrid are. This means that by attacking, they could well leave themselves open to counter-attacks – something that Tottenham are simply brilliant at doing.
Sweeping counter-attacks – usually finished by the deadly striking skills of Kane – have been a hallmark of Tottenham’s success under Mauricio Pochettino since he arrived at the club in 2014, and we saw another example of this on Saturday in Spurs’ game against Huddersfield. Granted it wasn’t Kane scoring, but he did set up Heung-Min Son’s goal with a phenomenal pass.
If Juventus are forced to attack – and essentially, they will be – then they will be open for a quick counter that Kane is an expert at finishing – and if he can score a couple of goals then he’ll outshine Dybala by far.