The ‘incredible quality’ of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son made the difference during Tottenham Hotspur’s hard-fought 3-2 Champions League group-stage victory over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night, visiting midfielder Sebastian Rode tells the club’s official website.
Form, as they say, is merely temporary.
And on a night in which Mo Salah responded to the critics with the quickest ever Champions League hat-trick in Liverpool’s 7-1 obliteration of Rangers, South Korean superstar Son also produced his finest performance of a hit-and-miss season as Spurs climbed to the summit of Group D.
Following Daichi Kamada’s early opener, that old double-act of Kane and Son combined in typically devastating fashion, the latter setting up the former for a ruthless equaliser with a trademark slide rule through ball. That was the 50th time Kane and Son have assisted one another in all competitions.
Former Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg forward Son then doubled his tally against Bundesliga opposition, thumping an exquisite volley into the roof of the net after some sterling approach work from the masterful Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son shine in Tottenham win
“Tottenham’s incredible quality made the difference,” sighed ex-Bayern Munich enforcer Rode. “They took their chances mercilessly. Harry Kane did really well and Son showed his quality too.
“We tried to be brave and push up. However, they always found Kane, who was then able to use Son with his enormous speed. Tottenham exploited the space behind (our defenders) mercilessly.”
After a couple of underwhelming group-stage performances, this was by far and away Spurs’ most threatening display in the Champions League under Antonio Conte. Not only was Son back to his exhilerating best, Richarlison was a constant threat on the opposite flank too. Ryan Sessegnon maintained his recent resurgence, while Hojbjerg produced the most complete midfield performance in the centre of the park; hassling, harrying, putting out fires at one end and assisting at the other.
“We were overwhelmed. If you are defending against these world-class players, you have to move at world-class level,” adds Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner. “And we didn’t.”
Tottenham face Sporting Lisbon on matchday 5. They lost 2-0 away in the Portuguese capital in the reverse fixture.
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