A dramatic finale saw us forced to settle for a point against Manchester United on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing to a first-half goal from Bryan Mbeumo and struggling to break down the visitors, momentum totally shifted in the final few minutes after Mathys Tel came off the bench to level it up before Richarlison’s glancing touch put us 2-1 ahead in the 91st minute and sent Tottenham Hotspur Stadium into delirium!
However, we were denied another victory over United – who we beat in all four meetings last season including that famous Europa League Final in Bilbao – when Matthijs De Ligt headed home from a corner in the sixth minute of stoppage time to leave it all square in a wild finish.
We made three changes from the midweek Champions League win over Copenhagen in N17 with Djed Spence, Joao Palhinha and Richarlison in for Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur and Wilson Odobert.
There was a decent tempo to the game in the early stages even if there was very little goalmouth action of note and the first real chance came on 16 minutes when Bilbao hero Brennan Johnson shifted the ball onto his left foot and sent over a lovely cross but Richarlison didn’t get a clean connection on his header as it bounced harmlessly wide.
At the other, United won the ball back high up the pitch in the 22nd minute and Matheus Cunha advanced into the box before seeing his shot deflected wide. The visitors were just starting to enjoy more possession in attacking areas when they went ahead just after the half-hour. It was a goal that could have been avoided as Pape Matar Sarr had the opportunity to clear his lines inside our area but played a short pass back to Micky van de Ven whose clearance was then blocked and United regained possession. The first cross into our box was headed away by Spence but Amad Diallo picked up the loose ball, clipped over another cross and there was Mbeumo to head into the top corner from eight yards out.
We tried to respond with Xavi Simons getting into some nice areas and showing some good touches, while we won a handful of corners in the final stages of the first half but couldn’t make them count and went in behind at the break.
We came out with renewed intensity at the start of the second half and United had goalkeeper Senne Lammens to thank for keeping them in front. First, he made a close range save to deny Cristian Romero’s flick from half-time substitute Odobert’s cross before diving to his left to push away Palhinha’s half-volley from just inside the box.
The ball was in the back of the United net in the 63rd minute, Richarlison slipping a pass in to Johnson who beat Lammens but the flag went up for offside and it was ruled out. The visitors were dropping deep whenever we had the ball, inviting us to break them down but always carried a threat on the break and when Diallo clipped a ball over the top for Bruno Fernandes, the midfielder had plenty of space but lifted his shot over the bar.
The game had just started to feel like it was heading away from us as we couldn’t quite fashion that chance to draw level when, almost out of nowhere, we did exactly that. It was a lovely goal too as three substitutes combined, Odobert sliding a ball down the inside left channel to Udogie, his low cross found Tel who turned and shot in one swift motion, the ball flicking off the toe of De Ligt and flying past Lammens to make it 1-1. The visitors almost regained the lead immediately when Benjamin Sesko was played through and was in on goal, only for van de Ven to show that pace once more to get back and get an important touch as the United forward went to shoot, with Guglielmo Vicario able to gather.
It was a big moment too, as we completely turned the game on its head a minute into stoppage time when we took the lead. The ball fell to Odobert 20 yards from goal, he hit a curling right-foot effort which flew through a mass of bodies in the box, with Richarlison getting a glancing touch on the shot to send the ball into the net and spark fantastic celebrations on the pitch and in the stands.
Sadly though, a fifth consecutive win against the Red Devils eluded us as they managed to find an equaliser in the final seconds. It was a straight-forward goal too, a Bruno Fernandes corner to the back post headed in by De Ligt in the 96th minute. Heartbreak in the end, but a draw was probably a fair result.