As Timo Werner’s penalty strike earned the visitors RB Leipzig a well-deserved

Champions League away victory against Tottenham Hotspur in London, FOX

Sports Asia takes a look at the key talking points.

1. Tottenham fortunate to be level at halftime

RB Leipzig made a kamikaze start to the game and Jose Mourinho’s men were very, very
lucky to be level at half-time. Leipzig’s first chance came as early as the first minute and
by the second, they had already struck the post. It was telling that that the first booking
of the game was Giovani Lo Celso – in the 10th minute, highlighting how Spurs weren’t
able to deal with the game’s pace. By the 30th minute, Tottenham had had only a single
shot on goal in comparison to Leipzig’s 11, illustrating the extent of the one-way traffic
in the first half.

2. Timo Werner ends goal drought

Timo Werner has had something of a mini-drought in front of goal, going five games
without a goal. The German has the highest goal involvement of any player in the
Bundesliga this season and in that context, five games seem almost like an eternity.
What better way to end your drought then, than in the last-16 of the UEFA Champions
League? Konrad Laimer earned the penalty after being clattered by Ben Davies and
Werner subsequently stepped up to send the ball past Hugo Lloris with a low strike. 1-0.

3. Late Spurs surge

After more than 60 minutes of mediocrity, a double change by Jose Mourinho finally
forced his side into action. Dele Alli and Gedson Fernandes came off for Erik Lamela and
Tanguy Ndombele as Mourinho attempted to freshen things up. Tottenham finally began
to look brighter and nearly equalized when Lo Celso’s whipped shot was pushed onto
the post by the Leipzig goalkeeper. Erik Lamela and Ndombele too tried to make things
happen and even though Spurs might have had something on another day, it was a
feeling of too little too late from the home side.

4. Nagelsmann beats inspiration Mourinho

RB Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann became the youngest person to take charge of a
Champions League encounter at 32 years and 211 days and he couldn’t have asked for a
better manager to play against. Nagelsmann revealed the impact Jose Mourinho has had
on his career in the pre-match presser, drawing parallels between the Portuguese’s stint
at Porto and his own rise as a manager. Both are people with relatively insipid careers
who subsequently made their name as coaches and for the Leipzig manager to play and
earn a result against one of his inspirations will have been a huge moment.

5. Tottenham missing a presence upfront

One thing made clear by Tottenham’s performance against Leipzig was how badly the
Londoners are missing a presence up front. Harry Kane’s injury has had a massive
impact and just when they thought they could get by, news of Heung-Min Son being
sidelined for the rest of the season came in. The South Korean has shouldered the goal-
scoring burden in Kane’s absence and Spurs were often reduced to playing aimless long
balls with no movement off the ball without these two. Big miss for Jose Mourinho.