Full Time: Tottenham 3-0 APOEL Nicosia
Fernando Llorente scored his first Tottenham goal in his 17th appearance for the club as Mauricio Pochettino’s side rounded off their Champions League Group H campaign with a routine victory against APOEL Nicosia at Wembley.
Spurs had already secured first place in the group before the game and Pochettino opted to give some of his fringe players a start. Given Spurs’ recent stutters, it was an opportunity for them to find a bit of momentum.
Llorente opened the scoring in the 20th minute, before Son Heung-min added a second before the break, curling in from the edge of the box after playing a one-two with Llorente. The Londoners added a third late on through Georges Kevin-N’Koudou’s deflected finish.
Cypriots Apoel, who needed to avoid defeat to have a chance of claiming a Europa League spot ahead of Borussia Dortmund, failed to offer anything throughout the game.
Let’s take a look at how the Spurs players fared in the 3-0 victory over APOEL Nicosia.
Tottenham Player Ratings
Michel Vorm – 6/10
Captained the side and had very little to do other than catching the odd through balls.
Sergi Aurier- 6/10
Aurier delivered a fantastic low cross for Llorente to open the scoring. Made a reckless challenge that earned him a yellow card and tarnished what was a very good game for the Ivorian until then.
Davinson Sanchez- 8/10
Following his red card against Watford, Sanchez put in a disciplined performance against the Cypriot outfit. The Colombian was largely untested against a blunt APOEL attack and led the young defence in a commanding manner.
Juan Foyth- 6.5/10
Foyth got a rare start and looked very composed on the ball. He was naive defensively with unnecessary fouls when keeping calm was the solution. Clearly a future prospect for Spurs.
Danny Rose- 7/10
Set the tone in the second-half by making a great block in goal. Received a needless booking for pushing a player. Looked assured defensively and got forward a lot, before having to go off with a cut over his eye.
Harry Winks- 8/10
Winks oozed class; shielded the defence well and contributed well in attack. Played a splendid pass in the build-up to Son’s goal. At 21, he looks to be a really matured player, miles ahead of some of his peers.
Moussa Sissoko- 7/10
Worked tirelessly and broke up plenty of APOEL’s attack. An industrious showing by the Frenchman in the middle of the park.
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou- 7/10
Saw his effort get cleared off the line spectacularly in the first-half. Continued to be a menace to the opposition defence and reaped rich rewards, scoring his first goal for the club, in the final ten minutes with a deflected effort.
Dele Alli- 6/10
Personally, I was disappointed with Alli’s performance last night. The game was tailor-made for him to shine, but sadly, he failed to influence the game.
Heung-Min Son- 8.5/10
The best player for Spurs; curled home in the 38th minute for our team’s second goal and worked very well in tandem with Llorente. He deserves to start against Stoke at the weekend.
Fernando Llorente- 8/10
Llorente will be relieved to finally break his Tottenham duck. Scored with an excellent touch and turn from Aurier’s cross. He was a handful for the opposition and did everything on the night which arguably belonged to him.
The Spaniard would look to build on an encouraging night and provide Poch with selection headaches.
Substitutes
Mousa Dembele- 6/10
The Belgian is looking rusty after coming back from injury. Gave the ball away cheaply and is far from his usual best. Such cameos will help him get back his lost mojo.
Kyle Walker-Peters- 5/10
He replaced Rose after half-time and didn’t do much in an otherwise decent showing.
Kazaiah Sterling- N/A
The teenager can proudly say now that he has played Champions League football. He was given very less time on the pitch to make an impact but should be thankful to our gaffer for getting a chance to experience such a wonderful night.
