After the thrilling raid on Manchester City, the prospect of a home fixture against dysfunctional Roma came with laced with peril for anyone familiar with the Tottenham script.
The Italians have been in disarray this season, summoning Claudio Ranieri from retirement to salvage their season and the presence of the architect of Leicester City’s miracle in 2016 triggered awkward flashbacks in N17.
Spurs chased Leicester all the way that year and somehow finished up in third, and here was Ranieri back at the age of 73 to aggravate them all over again. This time with an equaliser crashed home from close range by Mats Hummels in stoppage time.
“Frustrating the way the game ended,” said Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou but he rejected the idea of making his team boring in pursuit of points “Would you really prefer us to scratch out a few nil-all draws?
“I’d much rather we’re exciting to watch. It’s edge-of-the-seat and sometimes you don’t get the reward. But if you want those games there’s plenty in world football you can watch every week. I like to think if you tune in to see us, you’ll get entertainment.”
It was frenzied and often fraught, with woodwork rattling and three Roma goals ruled out and it started badly for Hummels, the 35-year-old defender released by Borussia Dortmund at the end of last season and picked up by the Italian club as a free agent.
Mats Hummels scored in injury time to rescue a point for Roma, having given away the penalty which led to Tottenham’s opener
Tottenham failed to make the result safe and have fallen out of the automatic qualification places
Claudio Ranieri returned to his boyhood club earlier this month and saw a spirited performance from his side
Hummels scored an own goal from the bench on his debut – a 5-1 defeat at Fiorentina – and did not play again under Ivan Juric, who was sacked in November after a dozen games in charge.
Here, on his first start for Roma, he conceded a penalty inside two minutes, late on Pape Matar Sarr who needed little encouragement to tumble over.
Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg waved the appeals away at first, only to be referred to his monitor by the VAR. Heung-min Son converted once the decision had eventually been confirmed.
Fraser Forster, making only his fifth appearance in 18 months, performed well and made his first save of the night from Paulo Dybala but was soon beaten by Evan N’Dicka, who glanced in a header off the bar from a from a free-kick.
The visitors thought they had the lead when Stephan El Shaarawy connected sweetly with a flick by Dybala and fizzed a volley into the net from just inside the penalty area. The ball was on the centre spot with both teams lined up to restart by the time the VAR check came through and the goal was ruled out for offside.
Angelino made a vital block on his own line to deny Brennan Johnson before the Spurs winger soon found the net in typical style, arriving at pace to rattle in his ninth of the season, a crisp finish to a low cross from Dejan Kulusevski.
Postecoglou’s team were in control before half time and should have settled the tie during this period. Kulusevski hit a post, Son crashed the rebound over and was then denied by keeper Mile Svilar.
Tottenham broke four on two early in the second half without making it count. Hummels recovered to make a sliding challenge as Kulusevski took aim.
Son Heung-min opened the scoring for the home side from the spot after only five minutes
Roma defender Evan Ndicka got his side back on level terms in the 20th minute of the clash
Brennan Johnson’s well-taken finish looked to have handed Spurs the win that would have taken them to within two points of the Europa League group stage summit
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Roma were stronger in the second half. They had two more goals disallowed for offside in quick succession.
First Artem Dovbyk strayed a yard offside before his cross was tapped in by Manu Kone. Then a flag went up as Dovbyk applied the finish to a low cross from the right.
Pedro Porro deflected an effort by Angelino against the bar. Kone slid a good chance wide form the edge of the penalty box. Porro clipped the bar from a free-kick and Solanke headed against the bar before Roma generated pressure and a strong finish.
Forster made a fabulous reflex save from Gianluca Mancini but could do nothing to stop Hummels scoring from the corner which followed.
“Let’s see how the season ends before saying it was the right decision to come out of retirement,” said Ranieri. “I thought I could be travelling the world, but I knew in bottom of heart there were two teams who if they called I could not say no. Roma and Cagliari but I hoped they would never call because that would mean they needed me.”
