Today I'm going back just two years to 2019 and Tottenham's Champions League Group Stage fixture against the Greek side Olympiacos of Piraeus, a port and part of Athens' urban area. Piraeus can lay claim to being the largest passenger port in Europe and is in Europe's top 10 for freight traffic too.
The featured game was Jose Mourinho's first home game in charge of Tottenham. It was the dawn of a new era as the self-dubbed "Special One" arrived to steer Spurs to trophies and glory once more. Except that he didn't do any of that. It now seems as if Jose's best days are behind him as he struggles to manage yet another "big club" in Roma in Italy's Serie A. These days Jose seems to be an argument waiting to happen as he falls out with members of his staff and playing squad. The Prime Video documentary "All or Nothing" was illuminating as to his methods. He seemed to try to act as a father figure to Dele Alli before tiring of his attitude and banishing him to the fringes of the first team squad for example. I think I'd trust Harry Kane's judgement though and he seemed to have nothing but good things to say about Jose even after he left the club. Strangely Jose was sacked after he had steered Spurs to a Wembley Final showdown against Manchester City in the League Cup meaning that he was unable to finish the job and deliver at least one trophy to the success starved fans. I for one would have liked to have seen what would have happened had Jose remained in charge for that game but it was not to be.
With just 6 minutes gone, Olympiacos took the lead thanks to a stunning shot from outside the penalty area by El Arabi. Worse was to come as the Greeks extended their lead in the 19th minute from a corner which was touched home by Ruben Semedo from close range. Mourinho acted swiftly, substituting Eric Dier and bringing on Christian Eriksen thereby improving Tottenham's attacking options at a stroke. Then, on the stroke of half time, a stunning Spurs comeback got underway with Dele Alli tapping in following a comical miscue by one of the Greek defenders. Within five minutes of the restart it was level at two goals apiece with a goal from Kane. Amusingly Jose gave all the credit for that goal to a quick thinking ball boy who smartly returned the ball enabling Spurs to take a quick throw in which caught the Greeks napping. The goal, scored by who else but Harry Kane, was his 20th in Champions League football making him the fastest ever to reach that milestone in just 24 games and was his 23rd goal in 23 appearances for Spurs and England that season. Spurs finally took the lead in the 73rd minute with a fine half volley by Serge Aurier who drilled the ball home from an unmarked position in the box and three minutes later Harry Kane headed home from another set piece, taken by Eriksen, to put Spurs out of sight. It finished 4-2 to Spurs in front of 57,024 who were now already through to the knockout stage of the Champions League after just five of their six Group Stage games.
Spurs finished second in the Group Stage behind Bayern Munich who had hammered them 2-7 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier in the campaign and who would go on to beat Paris-Saint-Germain in the Champions League Final later that season. Tottenham didn't linger long in the competition, falling at the next hurdle, the Round of 16, to RB Leipzig 4-0 on aggregate before Covid19 did it's level best to spoil the rest of the season for everybody
CRB Match No. 2366
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