Son celebrates Kane link-up as Tottenham duo hit another milestone

By Sports Desk October 12, 2022

Son Heung-min's link-up with fellow Tottenham star Harry Kane is purely a "pay-off for hard work".

Son scored twice on Wednesday, either side of a Kane penalty, as Spurs ran out 3-2 winners over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.

Antonio Conte's side moved to the Group D summit after coming from behind to defeat the Europa League holders at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Kane set up Son for the equaliser after the hosts fell behind to Daichi Kamada's early strike, meaning the pair have now combined to score on 50 occasions for Spurs across all competitions.

Kane has teed up 24 goals for Son, who has supplied 26 assists for the England captain. Since the start of last season, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, the scorer of a record-setting hat-trick in Liverpool's win over Rangers elsewhere on Wednesday, is the only Premier League player with more strikes in all competitions (39) than the Spurs pair (Kane has netted 36, with Son scoring 29).

The South Korea captain paid tribute to his fearsome partnership with Kane, telling BT Sport: "We just understand each other really well. I know what he likes to do, and he's the same.

"The relationship, it's always hard work and good effort. It's always been a pay-off for hard work. [There will be] many more [combinations] to come, I hope."

Son's second goal was the pick of the bunch as he put Tottenham 3-1 up before the break.

Connecting with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's pinpoint cross, the forward unleashed a thumping volley that would eventually prove decisive after Faride Alidou's late header ensured a nervy finish for Spurs.

"The ball was just really clear to me and there was only one option; to take the volley," Son added. "I hit it really clean, I was very happy.

"The last five minutes were really tough. In the Champions League, you never know what will happen. It was uncomfortable sitting on the bench and watching. The most important thing was the three points."

Meanwhile, head coach Conte said "it would have been a disaster" had Spurs surrendered their lead in the closing stages, with Kane missing a stoppage-time penalty to put them home and dry. The 29-year-old has missed two of his last four penalties in all competitions for Tottenham, having previously scored 21 successive spot-kicks for the club.

"We started in a very difficult way, conceding the first goal," Conte said. "We scored three goals and had big chances. In the end, we are leading our group.

"Until the end, we had to stay focused. It would have been a disaster if we drew a game like this."

Related items

  • FC Halifax back in the play-off places after draw with Oldham FC Halifax back in the play-off places after draw with Oldham

    FC Halifax moved back into the play-off places in the National League as Adan George rescued a point in a 2-2 draw at home to Oldham.

    The visitors took the lead in the 18th minute through Dan Gardner’s half-volley from a corner before Rob Harker levelled for the home side a minute into first-half stoppage time, smashing the ball home.

    Oldham were awarded a penalty when Joe Garner was fouled in the box and Gardner restored Latics’ lead from the penalty spot in the 58th minute, but The Shaymen levelled again in the 72nd minute through substitute George’s smart finish from a narrow angle.

    Halifax climb back into the play-off spots on goal difference where they are tied on 68 points with Aldershot, while Oldham remain 10th.

  • Harry Kane savours Champions League ‘war’ with England team-mate Jude Bellingham Harry Kane savours Champions League ‘war’ with England team-mate Jude Bellingham

    Harry Kane is ready to go into battle against Jude Bellingham for a spot in the Champions League final before the pair aim to lead England to Euro 2024 glory.

    England captain Kane moved to Bayern Munich from Tottenham last year while Bellingham left Borussia Dortmund to join Real Madrid.

    Both helped their respective clubs to Champions League quarter-final wins over Premier League sides on Wednesday night as Bayern beat Arsenal and Real saw off Manchester City on penalties. Bellingham scored in that shoot-out while Kane netted a first-leg spot-kick at the Emirates Stadium.

    Those wins tee up a mouth-watering semi-final clash between two clubs who have won 20 European Cups between them.

    Despite Arsenal and City being eliminated, meaning the first semi-final line-up since 2020 with no Premier League clubs, Kane believes there will still be plenty of English interest in how he and Bellingham fare.

    “Jude has had a fantastic season, he’s a top player,” he said.

    “I’m really happy for him but it will be another war against his team – but that’s the experiences that we both went abroad to try to achieve, to play in these big nights in the Champions League, to play in these big semi-finals.

    “It will be one to enjoy and I’m sure there will be a lot of English fans watching both of us. We have to focus on ourselves. Of course, I’ll say hello but once we’re on the pitch, it’s business.”

    Kane is still yet to win a major trophy in his career and also has the added incentive of the Champions League final taking place at Wembley on June 1, with either Dortmund or Paris St Germain awaiting the winner of Real and Bayern.

    “For both of us, for sure,” Kane replied when asked if Wembley is the dream for him and Bellingham.

    “With Wembley being our national stadium, it’s extra motivation there for us but there are two games ahead of us before that, which are going to be really tough so we have to focus on that.

    “Real Madrid are a big club with amazing history in the Champions League so it’s going to be a really difficult game for us.

    “But that’s what the semi-finals of the Champions League are all about, the biggest teams, so we enjoy this tonight and then prepare for that game in a couple of weeks.”

  • Arsenal’s season suffers another blow with Champions League exit in Munich Arsenal’s season suffers another blow with Champions League exit in Munich

    Arsenal’s Champions League hopes were snuffed out as Joshua Kimmich’s bullet header was enough to take Bayern Munich into the semi-finals.

    After an enthralling 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium last week, this tie was finely poised but it was the hosts who progressed as Kimmich headed home in the second half to seal a 1-0 win for Bayern.

    Thomas Tuchel became just the second man to lead three different clubs into the last four of the Champions League and his side are now closing in on a Wembley final on June 1.

    Bayern showed the sort of pedigree in the competition that comes from years of being involved in the business end of the tournament – they have now qualified for 13 semi-finals and have reached the stage nine times since Arsenal’s last semi-final appearance in 2009.

    Arsenal, in fact, have never won an away Champions League game from the quarter-final stages onwards and they failed to turn in the sort of performance here that would change that.

    Having lost 2-0 at home to Aston Villa on Sunday to dent their Premier League title hopes, their European exploits came to a shuddering halt as Bayern’s nous eventually saw them advance.

    The win also maintained England captain Harry Kane’s chances of winning silverware in his debut season in Germany, the former Tottenham striker missing out on a Bundesliga title following Bayer Leverkusen’s remarkable campaign.

    Kane had a quiet evening after half a chance in the opening exchanges and it was Arsenal who enjoyed a good spell as they looked to take the lead in the tie.

    Gabriel Martinelli flashed a shot wide before wiggling through a couple of challenges only to come up against the imposing presence of Bayern skipper Manuel Neuer in the hosts’ goal.

    At the other end, David Raya was called into action for the first time as he saved from Jamal Musiala following a speedy Bayern break.

    Neuer’s first meaningful action of the night saw him paw a deflected Martin Odegaard shot off target as he sprang up to prevent the ball running behind for a corner.

    Martinelli then missed a great chance to open the scoring just after the half-hour, shooting straight at Neuer when picked out free in the Bayern box.

    Bayern were fuming as they looked to catch Arsenal out after Bukayo Saka was down needing treatment and Mikel Arteta gathered his players on the touchline only for the winger to clamber to his feet.

    A quick throw-in with all of the Arsenal side distracted was instead pulled back by referee Danny Makkelie, much to the chagrin of the home fans.

    Bayern were second best for the majority of a largely passive first 45 minutes for the hosts, but straight after the restart they were on it, hitting the crossbar through a Leon Goretzka header before Raphael Guerreiro’s follow-up deflected against the post.

    Arsenal were slightly rattled and Gabriel Magalhaes passed the ball out of play for a corner following a breakdown in communication with Raya.

    Arsenal survived the resulting set-piece but fell behind soon after, Kimmich flying past a slow-moving Martinelli to power Guerreiro’s cross into the back of the net.

    Arteta reacted almost immediately by turning to his bench, bringing on Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard but Arsenal’s race appeared to be run.

    They struggled to create any chance of note in chasing the game, taking more and more risks at the back in doing so.

    This may not have been a repeat of Arsenal’s two previous visits to the Allianz Arena, both 5-1 defeats, but it showed Arsenal are still a step below Europe’s elite.

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.