A stoppage-time goal from Brazilian striker Richarlison secured a 10-man Tottenham a 2-1 win over London rivals Chelsea in a spicy Sydney Super Cup battle at Accor Stadium on Saturday.
With scores locked at 1-1 and a penalty shootout looming due to the rules of the pre-season tournament, Spurs found a last-gasp winner, with the South American substitute tapping home from close range after being first to a rebound from a shot by fellow replacement Jamie Donley that hit the post.
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In front of more than 80,000 fans, it was a victory against the odds after Tottenham was reduced to 10 men just four minutes after half-time when substitute Kevin Danso was sent off for a professional foul on Chelsea’s Brazilian striker Joao Pedro.
Having only entered the contest at the start of the second-half, Danso made a mess of a pass from teammate Archie Gray.
Perhaps not helped by a bumpy playing surface, the Austrian centre-back failed to control the ball and allowed Pedro to get past him.
It led to a last-man foul from Danso on Pedro, and despite the match being a friendly, referee Alex King applied the letter of the law in showing the Spurs player a straight red card.
Given a numerical advantage, Chelsea upped the ante, with Spurs needing heroics frorn goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in the 52nd and 57th minutes to twice deny Estevao.
“I have to say it’s great,” a jubilant Kinsky told Paramount Plus after his side’s win in the all-Premier League battle.
“Of course it’s still the pre-season, but it’s a game against Chelsea and we want to win everything.
“It was tough for us because in the second-half we played with one man less, but we showed a good mentality. We were still playing, we were hungry, and we were active.”
Any doubts that there was much more feeling to the clash than a usual pre-season match quickly vanished with a crunching 10th-minute tackle from Spurs midfielder Conor Gallagher on 21-year emerging Chelsea star Dario Essugo.
Players ran in from both sides before referee King restored order and showed Gallagher a yellow card.
Chelsea enjoyed more possession early but it was Spurs who took the lead in the 17th minute against the run of play.
The goal was scored by new 100 million pound ($A192.18 million) signing Sandro Tonali.
Fed by Israeli winger Manor Solomon, the Italian winger unleashed a shot that wrong-footed Chelsea goalkeeper Teddy Sharman-Lowe after deflecting off Chelsea defender Levi Colwill.
However, Spurs’ advantage lasted only four minutes, with Chelsea’s Brazilian winger Estevao equalising with a header after beating Spurs left-back Andy Robertson to a far-post cross from Jamie Gittens.
Sydney-born 16-year-old Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli entered the game for Chelsea at the start of the second-half, while star Spurs pair James Maddison and Micky van de Ven weren’t included in the match-day squad.
Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso said his team conceded a “soft” goal to lose the game.
“(But) it was great to play this friendly in front of 80,000 people in a proper atmosphere,” Alonso said.