Gonzalo Higuaín followed up a stunning volley with a penalty to put Tottenham on the rack but missed a second spot-kick that may prove Juventus’s Champions League undoingFor all the goals and the garlands Gonzalo Higuaín still carries a shadow. There is an argument Lionel Messi would already be safely enthroned as the greatest modern footballer if only Higuaín could finish in the big matches, a wonderful striker who seems destined to fall short at the very, very last. A losing World Cup final, two losing Champions League finals: only in the vertiginously cruel gimlet eye of elite football could this be seen as failure.At the Allianz Stadium Higuaín seemed to be in the process of handing Tottenham and Harry...
Tottenham striker started his career slowly but he has improved so fast he could become the best player of his generation with the right choicesThere was nothing too restrained about the celebrations when, seven years ago on Monday, a young loanee scored his first professional goal. Harry Kane’s close-range finish for Leyton Orient against Sheffield Wednesday was sufficiently gift-wrapped that he glanced over his shoulder towards the linesman as he wheeled away; that element of doubt having been dispelled, the joy was unconfined. At 17 you never know quite how often moments like that will come.The Kane of January 2018 has a somewhat clearer idea. If he scores twice against Southampton on Sunday, he will hit the 100-goal mark in...
This January transfer window will be as frantic as any and an attempt to hijack Real Madrid’s expected move for football’s hottest property can’t be ruled outThe transfer window officially opens on Monday, though this one has been so eagerly awaited that some clubs have jumped the gun. It is slightly odd that this should happen in a season when all interest in the title race will most likely be over by the end of January but, perhaps because they feel the deal properly belongs to last summer, Liverpool went ahead early with the announcement that they had agreed to pay Southampton a record £75m for Virgil van Dijk. Related: Ten January window transfer targets – from Griezmann to Lozano...
Tottenham’s top scorer could not find the decisive finishing touch at the Bernabéu but still made an impact that demonstrates how far he has comeA backheel at the Bernabéu. That is quite a baptism or it would have been if, as most of this stadium first thought, it had actually happened. The replay told a different story but it was Harry Kane the Tottenham Hotspur players ran towards as the ball settled in Keylor Navas’s net, giving them the lead just before the half-hour. The problem was that at the end of the game it was also Kane they sought out, Hugo Lloris putting an arm round his shoulder and walking him to the touchline. This was an excellent result...
Spurs pair who cost pittance are second and third most valuable players in the world behind Neymar according to one estimate – but fans still crave a splurgeNow that the Lions tour and Wimbledon are over, and with the Test series against South Africa yet to grab the attention, thoughts can easily turn to the start of the new football season, which is only two weeks away. Or rather to the pre-season competition. I don’t mean friendly tournaments, like the money-spinning non-event of the so-called International Champions Cup. But the true sport and drama of the transfer window. A kind of fantasy football for chairmen, it is also a ritual that finds generous space for frenzied media and desperate fans...