Why the Spurs are basking in gifted glory
Tottenham Hotspur surprised all and sundry by qualifying as the group leaders for the next round of the Champions League and the fact that they did so in their debut season is no mean feat, after all, no other Champions League
debutants have even came close to matching their goal tally of 18 goals in 6 matches. The fact of the matter is that the Spurs are the only Champions League debutants this season who have managed to navigate through the first round and along the way have even
bested the defending champions.
But it certainly cannot be denied that the Spurs have not done all this on their own, of course, qualifying for the next round is a worthy achievement and doing so by plundering goals left, right and centre is worthy of due applause
but at the same time it also needs to be said that they have been given a helping hand by their opponents.
Where the Spurs are the heroes of this year’s fairy tale , Inter Milan are the protagonists of the same story as well but their swift fall from grace is a running theme with Rafael Benitez, the main villain of the story, being
blamed for the downfall of the defending champions and rightfully so. He inherited a team of Champions from Jose Mourinho and yet he failed to get out of the group stages unbeaten, getting defeated along the way by the Spurs and then humiliated in the last
match day at the hands of Werder Bremen.
Inter are the team that made the Spurs the heroes of this season, no less than three times letting the Londoners off the hook. Firstly, at the Giuseppe Meazza, when they took their foot off the gas after racing into a 4 goal lead
against the Spurs in the first 30 minutes of the game, they were pegged back by Gareth Bale, narrowly winning the match by a single goal. The Second time at White Hart Lane, Gareth Bale terrorized the giant Maicon to help his side beat the Champions 3-1 and
perhaps it was that day that the Spurs really believed they were in for business in this season’s Champions League and from then on they have never looked back. The third time, and though not direct but, Inter failed to beat the bottom of the table Werder
Bremen and in fact lost the match 3-0 in Germany to hand the Spurs the top position in the group. Had Inter won their match against the side that was boasting -9 of a goal difference going into the match, the Spurs’ draw in the Netherlands on match day 6 would
have meant that they would only qualify for the last 16 second to the Nerrazurris but the Italians failed to do so and the Spurs are basking in this ‘gifted glory’.
The Spurs are no doubt the biggest winners of the group stages, after all, why wouldn’t they be, after boasting an average of 3 goals per game. On the other hand, you have Manchester United who got all the praise for their defensive
record and conceding just one goal in 6 matches but the pundits are missing the all important fact that United have qualified for the last 16 by notching up the least number of goals by any team to have ever qualified for the knock-out phase as group winners,
with 7 goals scored.
Looking at Manchester United’s scoring record, the Spurs’ achievement looks even more wonderful but of the 4 teams to have qualified for the last 16 from England, the Spurs would still be the team any manager would like to face
given the choice between Arsenal, United and Chelsea and that too only because they were the group winners and Chelsea and Arsenal along with United were far from impressive. The Spurs may perhaps be up against tougher opposition that will truly test their
resolve but for now the Spurs are the champions of the group and it’s their moment to cherish.
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