Jamie Carragher has praised Ivan Perisic for his ‘brilliant’ block to deny Alexis Sanchez a goal during Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 win over Marseille in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The former Liverpool defender shared how Perisic was ‘actually celebrating’ after he denied Sanchez the chance to send Marseille to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
At the time, the scores were level at 1-1, before stoppage-time saw Harry Kane motor up the field, play a brilliant through ball to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg who killed the game off.
There were two moments of brilliance from Perisic, including his outstanding left-footed assist from a free-kick, which was headed home by Clement Lenglet for Tottenham’s equaliser, and then that block.
Nonetheless, Carragher praised that game-saving moment from Croatia International and stated that Sanchez’s effort was heading towards the ‘top corner’, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (01/11/22 at 10:15 pm).
“This was from Alexis Sanchez,” said Carragher. “You think it was written in the stars for him being an ex-Arsenal man to get the goal.
“He shouldn’t really be there. He does brilliant to go on the line and that stops the shot. He actually celebrates. He knows how important that block is. It was going in the top corner.
“This is why this competition is the best. We only see that type of situation in the knockout stage. But we go to the final game of the group stage and it felt like we were watching a game from the last-16 or the quarter-finals.”
TOTTENHAM BLOCK THE OUTSIDE NOISE
When Harry Kane’s stoppage-time winner against Sporting Lisbon was ruled out for offside last week, Spurs knew they were in for a very tough final game in France.
It was a hostile and unpleasant welcome for the Tottenham players because, even the night before, the Marseille ultras camped outside the English side’s hotel room and started to let off fireworks.
The Ligue 1 club tried to make it as intimidating as possible, and even took the lead just before the break.
But Antonio Conte’s players, once again, showcased that fight right towards the end and put their name into the hat for the knockout stages.
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