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Christian Eriksen received the ball from Eric Dier, turned sixpence and played Kieran Trippier in the right-side space. His center was too tight, but Danny Rose forced James Milner to concede a foul more to Yorkshire than to the Emmerdale cast wearing caps and complaining to their badpets of the trains' delay.
Tottenham lost the Champions League final 1-0 with almost 83 minutes of play, but was not ready to let that go too easily. Liverpool should fight for its sixth European crown.
Yet it was Eriksen's last contribution in free play. The free kick that followed was largely exchanged by Alisson, while Joel Matip opened the scoring on his two stops stopped at about the same place.
The last 12 minutes and 24 seconds of the biggest game of his career and the modern history of Tottenham came and went without Eriksen having recorded a single non-set-set touch. The Spurs had a possession of about 65.2% during this period; their chief instigator had none.
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It was a performance that betrayed immense physical and mental fatigue. Eriksen had informed Tottenham of his desire to leave ten days ago, and he never really arrived when they needed him the most. Harry Kane and the decision to start it were criticized, but his teammate had to be grateful for the lightning rod.
This may be unfair to Eriksen, one of 26 field players whose level fluctuated from mediocre to medium and not higher in Spain. But he only created one of 11 chances for Tottenham, one of three players not to tackle a single tackle, interception or clearance, and he is one of the few to be tied to Real Madrid and in Barcelona.
Considering how much the former took the last player They signed with Tottenham, who scored crucial goals in two of his four wins in the Champions League final. It would be advisable for Eriksen to choose carefully. His talent does not seem to be a talent for a revolving door of managers and teammates, an insatiable and volatile support and a sea of white handkerchiefs. The big fish thrived in a fairly large pond, but it would be eaten alive in the Bernabeu Ocean.
Barcelona could be more suited to Danish. But they are twice shy and continue to be imported from the Premier League at great expense. The Spanish champions have cleverly extracted the extra from Philippe Coutinho in the last 18 months and will be reluctant to repeat the experience so early.
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But the fact that Eriksen can or can not cope with the "impulse" he so craves is irrelevant to Tottenham. They will make their player want to "try something new" if it suits them and them alone.
This is after all the beginning of the "new chapter" promised by Mauricio Pochettino more than a month ago. The manager did not think about the links with Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele, nor did he offer an unexpected update of the stadium, when he spoke of the "painful reconstruction" that will take place this summer. He envisioned the need to separate this happy and loyal family, to reconstruct this web with new colors and to change a decided distribution.
Since his appointment in the summer of 2014, Pochettino has sold only five players having played 100 Premier League matches for Tottenham. Mousa Dembele left in January, six months before the expiry of her contract, while Kyle Walker left only after "Slap the club in the face". The other three, Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon and Benoit Assou-Ekotto, were necessary sacrifices made by a leader willing to badert his authority quickly.
A lack of signatures masked a general lack of ruthless sales. It must change this summer.
This admirable allegiance was rewarded with a Champions League final at the end of its first five-year cycle. But the time has come to adapt and evolve, to give up Christian belief and place faith elsewhere.
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Their conquerors in Europe provide a useful case study. Liverpool has been fighting to keep Coutinho for years before agreeing to his wishes in January of last year. Two months later, Jurgen Klopp spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of selling your main protagonist.
"When we were not at our best level, it was always a good idea to give him the ball, maybe he has an idea," noted the German. "But it was always clear that when Phil did not play, we had to do the job differently, put the responsibility on different shoulders and spread it among the players.
"In a good day, it makes you more unpredictable if you do not have that dominant player, but on another day you miss a player like that."
Of course, Liverpool never "missed" Coutinho. They have developed too much and have continued to grow without him. It was never essential, never a natural fit. They did not replace it because it did not need to be replaced. Eriksen would do it absolutely. He is the "dominant player" of Tottenham, the foundation around which they are built, the one who has "an idea" when others draw blanks.
But Liverpool's decision to separate from Coutinho was twofold. This gave them more tactical flexibility and interdependence, while giving them the opportunity to reinvest in their team. The initial sum of £ 105 million they received from Barca allowed them to keep the remaining balance of Virgil van Dijk and Xherdan Shaqiri's purchases, or to pay full Fabinho and Alisson. Liverpool removed the beautiful but useless piece of water and moved it from the front room to make way for a brand new couch, carpet and big screen TV.
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This is the problem of Tottenham. The suggestion that it is their moment Coutinho is idealistic. Liverpool capitalized on the desperation of the player and the buying club to encourage the kind of carelessness that one tends to see only in the January window in order to maximize their profits. He has also completed their budget instead of defining it.
But he was also a player Liverpool did not really need. Eriksen, despite his weaknesses and limitations, is crucial to the way Tottenham plays.
A lack of foresight, pre-planning and bad luck means that they have to settle for a significantly lower amount than a nine-digit amount or deal with the loss of Eriksen for free. " next summer. He signed a four-year contract in September 2016, while Coutinho signed a five-year contract without a release clause in January 2017. Liverpool then held all the cards; Everyone knows that Tottenham is bluffing now.
Eriksen is the most used player in Pochettino's management career. His 241 appearances in the Argentinean colors are even better than those of Kane (227), Hugo Lloris (220), Eric Dier (209) and Jan Vertonghen (204). No other player has been presented more than 200 times under him.
As if the burden of making his first recruits in 18 months was not enough, Tottenham may need to replace his most influential player while continuing to progress elsewhere. The alternative is to keep someone who does not want to be there anymore.
Yet Eriksen reached the ceiling under Pochettino and believes that all parties would benefit from a clean break and a new challenge. The Dane joined as part of the seven magnificent signed to replace Gareth Bale; this would complete the circle for him to leave an inheritance to Tottenham to rebuild again.
To see him toil in the heat of Madrid, head down, chasing the shadows and point fingers, was to see a player who has already given everything for the cause. But if selling Coutinho was like changing hairstyles for Liverpool, replacing Eriksen will be as delicate and dangerous as a heart transplant for Tottenham.
Matt Stead
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