Micky van de Ven scored a sensational solo goal as we brushed off the second-half dismissal of Brennan Johnson to produce a wonderful, wonderful victory over FC Copenhagen on Tuesday evening.
The Dutch defender turned into prime Heung-Min Son as he scored a goal incredibly reminiscent of our former forward’s Puskas Award winner in 2019 – picking the ball up on the edge of his own area before racing the entire length of the pitch and finding the back of the net.
We were already 2-0 up and down to 10 men at that stage after Johnson and Wilson Odobert had both scored their first-ever Champions League goals, only for Johnson to receive a straight red card in the 57th minute after a VAR review for a studs-up challenge on Marcos Lopez.
That could have led to a nervy ending, but van de Ven had other ideas with his stunning strike and then, just moments later, substitute Joao Palhinha rounded off a blistering counter-attack to make it 4-0 on a glory, glory night in N17.
While the Danes had the first sight of goal after six minutes, Jordan Larsson – son of former Swedish international striker Henrik – half volleying from the edge of the area straight to Guglielmo Vicario, we were by far the dominant team in the opening stages. Half chances came and went – Xavi Simons with a deflected shot, Johnson unable to control Odobert’s ball over the top, Pedro Porro cracking a 25-yard free-kick just over and Destiny Udogie hitting an angled drive saved by Dominik Kotarski in the Copenhagen goal. So it was no surprise when we did eventually take the lead in the 19th minute through Johnson, who latched onto a lovely ball over the top from Xavi, skipped past Kotarski who had come racing to the edge of his area and then produced a composed finish from a narrow angle.
Pape Matar Sarr then headed over from Johnson’s cross when in a good position before the visitors fashioned some attacking moments themselves, although they didn’t trouble Vicario apart from a Youssoufa Moukoko shot on the half-hour. We really should have doubled our advantage with two glorious chances for Randal Kolo Muani in the lead-up to half-time, First, some excellent intricate passing on the edge of the area between Odobert and Xavi found Kolo Muani eight yards out but he slid his effort just wide of the post. And Xavi then delivered a beauty of a cross right onto the French forward’s head eight yards out, but he nodded over the bar.
While he would have been disappointed not to have taken those chances, Kolo Muani more than made up for it by setting up our second six minutes after the break. Closing down Kotarski as the ball went back to him on the edge of the box, he got in a block which sent the ball looping high into the night sky towards goal. He then produced the most sublime touch on the falling ball to trap it and then laid off for the supporting Odobert to slide into the bottom corner. It was an important goal because, just four minutes later, Johnson slid in to tackle Lopez and brought him down from behind, with referee Erik Lambrecht brandishing a yellow card. However, after a review on the pitchside monitor, it was upgraded to red and Johnson was off.
Incredibly though, despite the numerical disadvantage, our performance went up another level and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium exploded in delight at what happened next. There were a few nerves just creeping in as Copenhagen were on the attack when van de Ven collected the ball on the edge of his own area and off he went, racing out of defence, through midfield, almost getting quicker as he went before finally reaching the Copenhagen box and firing a low, left-footed drive past Kotarski – a truly sensational goal! And it got better still, as we added a fourth just three minutes later. It was our other centre-half who led the charge this time, Cristian Romero breaking away before squaring the ball across the area where Palhinha was on hand to prod home to spark more wild celebrations.
We kept coming forward as well, Kolo Muani choosing to go it alone and getting crowded out when he had Sarr in support before, late on, substitute Richarlison hit the bar with a header and glanced another wide. In between times, an effort from Robert forced Vicario into his first real save of the second half, such was our dominance.
Richarlison then had the chance to perfectly round off the night in stoppage time, stepping up to take a penalty after substitute Dane Scarlett – on his Champions League debut – was upended by Lukas Lerager, only for the Brazil international forward to again strike the crossbar. In the end though, a fantastic win to maintain our unbeaten start in this season’s Champions League with eight points from our four games so far.