'Harry Kane moves closer to Real Madrid' - How the Spanish press reacted to Tottenham's draw at the Bernabeu

‘Punctured’: Lloris on the front page of AS
Gerard Couzens18 October 2017

Spain's leading sports papers hailed Spurs 1-1 away draw with Real Madrid on Tuesday as a triumph for Mauricio Pochettino.

Goalkeepers Hugo Lloris and Keylor Navas won the most praise in a match billed as a clash of Europe’s leading goalscorers - but Pochettino and his team made their mark at the Bernabeu.

Julio Maldonado described the tie as a “draw with a victory for Pochettino” in Madrid-based sports daily AS, which headlined one of its match analysis reports: “Pochettino beat Zidane.”

AS writer Alfredo Relano said of the man being tipped as a possible successor to Zinedine Zidane: “Pochettino is a good manager. It’s not something we discovered last night but he confirmed it.

“He prepared his team well, surprised us with two strikers and Tottenham left the aroma of a solid team in the Bernabeu.

Harry Kane - described as a “complete player” ahead of the Champions League tie by the Real Madrid coach - also made a favourable impression,

AS and rival sports daily Marca both dedicated full page reports to the England international’s performance, with the former boldly headlining its article: “Kane moves closer to Madrid” and the latter claiming he had left his footprint on the Bernabeu with a “great display” despite not scoring.

Marca, describing the Spurs frontman as someone set to be a talking point for the next few years, said in one match report: “Two great saves by Keylor Navas stopped the number 10 from culminating a performance in which he was an authentic nightmare for Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane.”

In Pictures | Real Madrid vs Tottenham | 17/10/2017

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There was criticism of Kane though from Marca columnist Jose Vicente Hernaez who in a biting opinion piece said he agreed with the idea that a winning side should include at least “one Argentinian, one Brazilian and no English player.”

He added: “He might score goals but he doesn’t transmit the slightest emotion in the way he plays.

“I was worried he might score a couple in the Bernabeu and Florentino Perez would end up changing him for Bale or Benzema in the summer.”

And respected Spanish paper El Mundo said Kane was a striker but not a ‘Galactico’ - the term used for the likes of David Beckham and other Florentino Perez world-famous POUNDS multi-million purchases over the years.

Hugo Lloris’ wonder save of Benzema’s header with his legs was front page picture on most of Spain’s sports papers.

The Frenchman was dubbed a superhero by one and heroic by another.

Catalan sports daily Sport said: “The Spurs goalie was largely to blame for Real Madrid not coming away with three points. His close-range save from Benzema was incredible.”