Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt played out an entertaining 0-0 draw in the Champions League on Tuesday night, with the story of the 90 minutes being very much one of missed opportunities.

A relatively quiet first half picked up somewhat towards the end, with Tottenham beginning to bare their teeth, but it was Frankfurt who had managed the one shot on target at the interval, in an otherwise poor quality opening 45 minutes.

The second half saw the game open up far more, with both sides having their fair share of periods of pressure on the other, yet while the quantity of chances may have increased, the quality of the finishes did not.

Time and time again, efforts went wide, over the bar, or into the grateful grasps of the respective goalkeepers, leaving Antonio Conte in particular a frustrated figure on the sidelines as the game wore on.

Oliver Glasner's side too had their own chances, albeit not quite as many, though given the number of shots they faced on their own goal, the Austrian boss will be the happier of the two coaches at taking a point from the game.

It is a result which leaves all of the four teams in Group D within three points of one another, while for Spurs specifically, they have now gone seven games without a win in away European fixtures, a record that will surely need to improve if they want to go far in this season's competition.

Story of the Match

The hosts made one change from their 2-0 victory over Union Berlin - who are currently top of the Bundesliga - at the weekend, with Kristijan Jakic and Djibril Sow coming in at wing-back and central midfield respectively.

Meanwhile, the English visitors had also played the team top of their domestic league in their previous match, in the form of North London rivals Arsenal - a game they lost 3-1 - but Conte opted not to make any changes to his starting eleven from that game.

In the early kick-off, bottom of the group Marseille had beaten the team at the top in Sporting Lisbon, meaning that as this game got underway, there were three teams all on three points each, the incentive for a win made all the more appealing.

Embed from Getty Images

This being Frankfurt's first ever Champions League campaign, the fans were at fever pitch right from the start, with a deafening noise echoing around the Deutsche Bank Park.

If the atmosphere in the stands was electric though, the action on the pitch appeared to be lacking the spark it needed to get it going - the only minor opportunities within the first 15 minutes came when Emerson Royal got on the end of a long ball from Eric Dier, but fired over the bar, and when Heung-Min Son's cross evaded the touch of Harry Kane at the back post.

Having absorbed pressure from Spurs, the home side suddenly turned up their own intensity, creating a chance of their own for the first time with a little under 20 minutes on the clock when Sebastian Rode saw his shot blocked by Ivan Perisic.

A flurry of corners then followed for the Eagles, with Tottenham seemingly unable to escape their own half for a brief period of time, but for all the possession the home team enjoyed, shots on target were nowhere to be seen.

It was a similar situation for Conte's side; there were some neat passing moves in attack, particularly involving Son and Kane, but Kevin Trapp in the opposition goal remained untroubled past the midway point of the first half.

An awkward volley attempt from Rode did finally produce a save from Hugo Lloris - albeit a very comfortable one - before Son had a chance to open the scoring when he got the ball on the edge of the box, sending his curling effort wide, but it was not nearly enough to get a neutral off their seat. 

The best opportunity of the first half came a few minutes before the break, when Emerson's low cross found Perisic mere yards in front of goal, with his scuffed shot being deflected inches wide of the post.

As the two teams went back down the tunnel for half time, Spurs likely felt that, had it not been for their lack of clinical finishing, they would have been ahead with the quality of chances they had created, but as it was the two teams were level at the break.

An energetic second half

If the end of the first half had been characterised by Frankfurt being under the cosh, they certainly broke free from that tag at the start of the second, as Ansgar Knauff forced Lloris into a strong save at close range, improvising with a volley after a sublime pass from Sow.

Barely a minute later, it was Tottenham's turn to come close, as Perisic looked to find Kane in the six yard box, but the striker's shot was blocked by Evan Ndicka - this was a far more open game now.

Next to spurn a chance was Son, after he received a lay-off from Richarlison, the Brazilian having pounced on a defensive error, but yet again the ball flew high and wide, as it had done so many times before.

The game continued to ebb and flow, with spells of possession for both teams, but the next major moment came on the hour mark, when a defensive mix-up for Tottenham led to the ball falling to Jesper Lindstrom on the edge of the penalty area.

Perhaps too eager to take what was such a gilt-edged chance, the Dane leant back and fired his shot over the bar - still, the ball would not find the back of the net.

Back and forth the game went, each side looking to carve out the potentially pivotal opening, but a mixture of some dogged defending and unfortunate deflections meant such an opening appeared unreachable.

The tension in the stadium continued to increase the clock ticked closer towards 90 minutes, with it turning into something of a battle of counter attacks, as the number of wasted chances continued to grow.

Also increasing was the volume of the crowd, who grew only more thunderous with their support in an attempt to push their team on for one last big chance.

The frenetic nature of the game by that point, however, meant that straining together more than a few passes proved almost impossible, let alone a move that would win the game, and after three minutes of further high-pace action in added time, the referee blew for full time.

In the end, a point was probably the fairest result on the balance of play, even if Spurs did create more opportunities, with the positive for the North London side being that they have put an end to their four game losing streak against German clubs.

For now though, focus for both teams will switch back to their domestic leagues, before they meet once again next week at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as the Champions League group stage continues.

Player of the Match - Djibril Sow

In a game which saw many chances go begging for both sides, it seems only right to pick out a player who was instrumental in creating many such chances for the home side, with that player being Djibril Sow.

The midfielder, one of two changes in Glasner's starting eleven, played multiple perfectly-weighted balls over the top of the Tottenham defence, including one particularly delightful pass to Ansgar Knauff early in the second half. 

He was also a force to be reckoned with defensively too, intercepting attempted through balls to prevent the away team rushing off on a counter attack, meaning he is a deserved recipient of player of the match. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author