Antonio Conte revealed that he was
about to substitute Son Heung-min
before the Tottenham Hotspur
forward scored a wonder goal to seal
the victory over Leicester City.
Son curled a delicious shot into the
top corner with his left foot, his
second goal of the game and
Tottenham’s third, in a 3-1 win.
Shortly before his 79th-minute
second, Conte had told Son that he
would get another five minutes. The
Spurs head coach embraced Son
when he did finally take him off,
shortly after the goal. “I gave him a
big hug because after an amazing goal
my question was which is his
favourite foot — right or left?” Conte
said. “He’s a great player.”
Conte added that his side had
worked on their shooting after failing
to register a shot on target in the past
two matches, taking only one point.
Son took his tally to 19 league goals,
the most he has scored in a singlecampaign in seven seasons at the
club, which also put him three behind
Mohamed Salah, in the race for the
Golden Boot.
The South Korean praised Cristian
Romero for his tackle on Caglar
Soyuncu in the build-up to his second
goal. “Winning the tackle was a risky
challenge but sometimes you need it
and Cristian made an unbelievable
tackle,” he said.
Brendan Rodgers felt that the
margin of defeat did not reflect
Leicester’s performance or the
opportunities they created. He was
also critical of the defending when
Harry Kane opened the scoring.
“Defending corners has been a
problem for us all season, we lack
aggression and cuteness,” said the
manager, who made eight changes
with Thursday’s Europa Conference
League semi-final second leg against
Roma in mind. “It is something we
will have to look at in the summer,
through personnel. The mentality to
head the ball is missing, it’s something
we would need to address.”Conte counts blessings after
giving Son five minutes more
GARY JACOBThis win, which kept Tottenham
Hotspur in the hunt for Champions
League qualification, was all about
two players. Up front, Son Heung-
min reached his best Premier League
goal tally with two weaker-foot goals
befitting the outstanding finisher in
European football: one clinical; one
classical, wafted magisterially into the
top corner from 25 yards. He could
yet catch Mohamed Salah for the
Golden Boot. But even his lustre was
surpassed by Cristian Romero, who
exerted a defining influence on the
game from central defence.
Romero, signed from Atalanta last
summer for £47 million, is already
one of the best centre backs in the
Premier League, and this game hinted
at super-stardom. This was a
performance which in its raw
aggression tapped into something
elemental and visceral, the universal
part of football that resonates in the
stands, but which also had in its
smooth upfield surges that purring
quality of movement which
distinguishes the finest players. Here,
he took the game on his shoulders,
playing a crucial role in Tottenham’s
second goal and channelling
throughout a rare level of clarity and
competitive will.
Antonio Conte had sprung a
surprise with his selection, dropping
Dejan Kulusevski from what had
been an ultra-settled front three and
replacing him on the right wing with
Lucas Moura. Leicester City, with
an eye on the second leg of
their Europa Conference semi-
final against Roma, retained
only Kasper Schmeichel,
Timothy Castagne and
Marc Albrighton from the
first-choice team which
started the first leg of
that European tie.
Leicester caused
plenty of problems in
the opening stages.
Boubakary
Soumaré’s
low cross
bisected
Romero
and Pierre-
Émile Hojbjerg, and Patson
Daka swept a first-time shot
towards the bottom corner.
Hugo Lloris, plunging to his left,
got a faint touch to divert the
ball onto the post. Then Ben
Davies was ransacked by
Albrighton. The winger’s cross was
heading for Daka, who was
6 1GG Monday May 2 2022 | the times
thegame
only denied a tap-in by a brilliant
sliding intervention from Romero.
Shortly afterwards, Son appeared to
touch the ball with his arm in the box,
but Spurs got away without the
forensic inquisition of VAR.
After such a good period for
Leicester, they conceded from a
simple set piece. Son curled a corner
delivery towards the near post, and in
the swirl of bodies, Harry Kane found
an empty channel, a sign of
something fatally awry in Leicester’s
defensive matrix. He stooped to guide
a header past Schmeichel, chalking
another one up for this reciprocal
Anglo-Korean armament pact.
Tottenham were not in control
though, and Leicester kept getting
opportunities. Daka was millimetres
away from touching the ball past
Lloris when Ayoze Pérez’s shot was
deflected into his path. At the other
end, Davies sent a high, hanging cross
to the far post and Romero out-
jumped Schmeichel, who crumpled
opportunistically. But Jon Moss ruled
no foul and with the goal empty,
Castagne did superbly to stop Kane’s
pull-back reaching Moura.
Shortly after half-time Romero
again cruised into the Leicester half,
this time anticipating and picking offRomero rises above chaos
3
Kane 22
Son Heung-min 60, 79RATINGS
Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3): H Lloris 7 —
C Romero 9, E Dier 7, B Davies 6 — E Royal 6,
R Bentancur 8 (H Winks 82min), P-E Hojbjerg 6,
R Sessegnon 6 — L Moura 6 (D Kulusevski 55, 8),
H Kane 7, Son-Heung-min 9 (S Bergwijn 82).
Booked Davies, Bentancur.
Leicester City (3-5-2): K Schmeichel 6 —
T Castagne 7, D Amartey 5, C Soyuncu 5 —
M Albrighton 6, B Soumaré 6 (L Brunt 67, 6),
N Mendy 6, A Pérez 6 (Y Tielemans 76),
L Thomas 5 — K Iheanacho 7, P Daka 6
(J Vardy 67, 6).
Booked Albrighton, Amartey, Thomas.
Referee J Moss. Attendance 59,482.Tottenham Leicester City
1
Iheanacho 90+1ALL-ROUND IMPACT
Cristian Romero touch map v
Leicester CityDirection
of playa loose pass, and moved it swiftly to
Hojbjerg, whose attempt to play in
Kane was dreadful.
Romero was the most watchable
player on show, radiating that
magnetic sense of absolute assurance
and command in a shapeless, chaotic
game. He carried the ball upfield on
an imperious trundle and slipped
it through for Moura, who was
brought down and should
have had a foul. A couple of
minutes later, Romero was
there again, this time in
his own six-yard box,
skimming the ball off
the top of his head just
as Daka looked to
accept a free header.
Moura had failed his
audition and
Kulusevski was
introduced on the
hour, immediately
charging the crowd up with
an enterprising run which
ended when he tripped over
his own legs. But this was
Romero's match and the
destiny of the game refracted
around him. He won the ball
on halfway with a thunderous
tackle and, before Conte's eyes,
went in for a second challenge,
ploughing through CaglarSoyuncu but connecting with the ball
just cleanly enough to avoid a foul.
Kulusevski took it on and shifted it to
Son, who spun and dragged the ball
low into the corner. Romero
celebrated with fist-pumps before he
was leapt on by his team-mates.
Kulusevski was inspired too,
dispossessing Pérez from behind with
a perfect tackle. Lloris raced out
brilliantly to foil Kelechi Iheanacho
when he was played through. Then it
was over to Son for his second goal.
After some fairly leisurely build-up
on the right, Kulusevski passed the
ball to Son, 25 yards from goal. He
looked up and launched one of those
shots that was in from the moment it
left his boot, tracing a beautiful,
swooping arc up and over Schmeichel
and then down, landing with a lovely
ripple in the inside top corner.
Romero was still launching himself
into slide tackles, spraying clods of
turf in the air, celebrating throw-ins
won with primal fervour.
Tottenham’s clean sheet was lost
late on when Iheanacho drifted in
from the left and hit a skiddy shot
which brushed Lloris's gloves and
pinged off the inside of the post.
But overall this was a highly
promising performance by Conte's
team, built around two pillars: one
old, and one new.Romero bent the game to his
will with an influential display
JAMES GHEERBRANT