When Harry Kane was last in Cyprus, he scored in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 win against AEL Limassol in the Europa League. The date was 21 August 2014 and it was his first goal under Mauricio Pochettino and his sixth for the club.
This time, he departed with the match ball, having sunk Apoel Nicosia in the Champions League with the perfect hat‑trick – left foot, right foot, header, in that order – and the statistics show that the striker now has 108 goals for Tottenham.
In a little over three years, Kane has gone from youthful hopeful to one of the most feared players in Europe and this was his latest grand statement. Nobody could have predicted it against Limassol, with Pochettino admitting as much, but step-by-step and goal-by-goal Kane has authored the most remarkable of rises. This, remember, was a player who once struggled on loan at Norwich City and Leicester City.
Sometimes it is better to let the numbers do the talking. The England international now has seven goals in five career Champions League games and the hat-trick means he has 11 goals from seven appearances for club and country this month.
Every time Kane zeroed in on Boy Waterman’s goal, everybody in this raucous little venue knew what would happen. There was a beauty to the predictability; the hard-edged ruthlessness. Apoel were adventurous and they had their moments but Kane squeezed the life out of them. He was the difference. Again.
It was a challenging night for Spurs. Pochettino was without seven players because of injury and suspension; the pitch was difficult and the atmosphere hostile. It was not a vintage performance from his team and there were spells when Apoel had them on the ropes.
However, thanks to Kane, they found a way to get the job done; to prolong their unbeaten start to Group H and their 100% away record this season. A mouthwatering double-header now looms against Real Madrid. Kane versus Cristiano Ronaldo will be at the top of the bill.
Pochettino had started with another new formation and finished with an old‑school 4-4-2. But it was not about systems. It was about Kane showing his irrepressible touch and gilding his reputation.
The 24-year-old’s opener had come against the run of play in the 39th minute, with Apoel having built a head of steam. The home crowd were furious that the referee, Pavel Kralovec, and his assistants had not seen an offside when Toby Alderweireld slid a pass up to Kane but there was not one to see. Praxitelis Vouros had played Kane onside and, once he had turned away from Jesús Rueda, he stroked low past Waterman.
The second was created by a ball up the inside-right channel by Kieran Trippier and a low cut-back from Moussa Sissoko. Kane took one touch to set himself and another to shoot low inside the far corner. Trippier was also involved in the third. Kane worked the ball out to him and sprinted into the box. Trippier’s cross was inviting and Kane’s header flashed into the corner.
Apoel were bold, with the manager, Giorgos Donis, springing a surprise by starting with two up front and there were near misses from his team in the first half. The chance that had the 22,000-capacity arena drawing their breath in one great gulp came on 19 minutes when the lively Stathis Aloneftis fed Igor de Camargo and, from an angle on the left, he lashed a shot against the underside of the crossbar.
Carlão outmuscled Alderweireld at a corner to head wide and there was the moment on 37 minutes when the home team might have known it was not to be their night. Hugo Lloris left his line but his clearance hit Davinson Sánchez, who was too close to him, and the ball ricocheted towards the Tottenham goal. Roland Sallai chased after it for what would have been a tap-in but it dribbled past the post and out for a corner.
Apoel continued to push at the start of the second half. Sallai worked Lloris and, shortly afterwards, Aloneftis raced on to a through ball, leaving Serge Aurier in his wake. The winger forced Lloris into an acrobatic tip over the crossbar.
Pochettino immediately substituted Aurier, which represented the latest set-back for the summer signing. On Saturday, he had been sent off at West Ham United. Here Aurier started at right wing-back in Pochettino’s 3-5-2, in which Son Heung-min worked off Kane up front. Son headed wastefully over in the early going.
Pochettino introduced Fernando Llorente alongside Kane and he moved Trippier from left wing-back to right-back. It worked like a charm. There would also be time for Pochettino to bring on the 20-year-old winger, Anthony Georgiou – a Cypriot youth international – for his debut. The night belonged to Kane.
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