Tottenham are still narrow favourites to reach the Champions League quarter-final, despite a 1-0 defeat at San Siro last night.
With a home crowd behind them under the lights on March 8 and fringe players more settled in Antonio Conte’s side, Spurs should have more than enough to see off a canny but limited AC Milan outfit, who will come to London with a lead thanks to Brahim Diaz’s early strike.
Diaz bundled over the line inside seven minutes following Fraser Forster’s double save and, from there, Spurs would probably have taken a 1-0 deficit.
There was promise in the visitors’ response and the way they managed the game for the remaining 83 minutes, despite a rookie midfield of Oliver Skipp, 22, and Pape Matar Sarr, 20 -- although Milan had the two best chances to add to their lead, with Charles De Ketelaere and Malick Thiaw heading wide.
Harry Kane and Conte were both upbeat afterwards, with the stand-in captain hailing his teammates’ fight, and the head coach -- who is still without a Champions League knockout win in over a decade -- backing the home fans to help his players over the line in the second leg.
Perhaps the bigger picture is all that matters at this stage of the competition but, while it was unquestionably a reasonable result and performance from Spurs in the circumstances, the bar is getting progressively lower for Conte’s side if a match in which they failed to create a clear chance from open play goes down as a good night’s work.
Yes, Milan are the Serie A champions but they are also 18 points off leaders Napoli this season and in the midst of a domestic run of one win in eight matches since the restart.
Yes, San Siro is a difficult place to come but Spurs have won there before at this stage of the competition and against a Milan side including (a younger) Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Clarence Seedorf and Co.
Yes, Forster is in the twilight of his career but he is still three years younger than Milan’s reserve goalkeeper, Ciprian Tatarusanu, who did not have a serious save to make last night.
Yes, Conte’s defenders are short of the required standard but he still began the match with a back three of world champion Cristian Romero and two players who have won a combined 64 caps for France and England in Clement Lenglet and Eric Dier, who will miss the second leg through suspension.
Yes, Spurs started with a midfield of Skipp and Sarr, who had played a combined 58 minutes in the tournament before last night, but they reached the Champions League Final in 2019 with a pairing of Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko.
Yes, Ivan Perisic struggles going backward and Emerson Royal does the same going forward but Conte does not have to start every game with wing-backs.
Yes, Dejan Kulusevski has joined Heung-min Son in a slump since the restart but Conte has Brazil’s No.9 Richarlison and January signing Arnaut Danjuma, who was named in the Champions League team of last season, in reserve.
Yes, Kane was encouraged by Tottenham’s spirit and character, but a ferocious level of commitment should be the minimum in every game at this level.
Admittedly, Spurs were missing captain Hugo Lloris, as well as injured midfielders Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma and the suspended Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, while Conte himself remains some way from full health following gallbladder surgery at the start of the month.
For all their problems and limitations, though, Tottenham could and really should have been capable of offering more against a Milan side who were missing key players of their own and looked distinctly ordinary, with the exception of the menacing Rafael Leao.
The real positives for the visitors were standout displays by Skipp and Sarr, who both rose to the occasion and played with a composure beyond their years, to calm Conte’s concerns over the loss of Bentancur and Bissouma to long-term injuries.
By the time the second leg comes around, one or both of the youngsters should be fully up to speed, although Spurs will have to play much better at home to be sure of progress.
