SOCCER: Tottenham 0 AC Milan 0:THERE IS joy in the Champions League exploits that have taken Tottenham Hotspur to the quarter-finals, but it is relief that makes such happiness all the more intense. This goalless draw sufficed, yet that stalemate was brittle and an enterprising Milan, who lead Serie A, could not have been begrudged their joy entirely if they had scored.
Tottenham, for their part, are fully entitled to think of themselves as a side that dealt with the conundrum of conducting a match before their own crowd when the imperative to win was not great. Ultimately, they had to rely more than they would have preferred on their goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who contributed to the engrossing and lively occasion.
The game had a commitment to attacking play at the outset. Milan, a goal behind from the first leg, took hardly any time to demonstrate more verve than they had displayed over 90 minutes at San Siro. Tottenham had sporadic enterprise of their own here since it would have been torture for themselves and the crowd if the evening were given over wholly to circumspection.
There was adventure and the inevitable element of risk that accompanies it, but the urgency of a lagging Milan was more fierce.
Tottenham had to shudder on a few first-half occasions. The visitors reached an intense tempo that had looked beyond them on their own field. A goal was almost conceded by the hosts on more than one occasion before the interval.
A Robinho drive in the 26th minute hit Benoit Assou-Ekotto on the head and William Gallas had to hack the ball clear from the goalline.
Within six minutes Zlatan Ibrahimovic was setting up Pato for an attempt that was dealt with capably by goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.
Tottenham had nothing to impel them when they held the lead, yet a conservative approach does not suit them. While there has been a freshness to this debut season in the Champions League, manager Harry Redknapp cannot always appreciate the innocence. A 4-3 defeat by Internazionale in October would hardly have borne any resemblance to the tactical plan for the night, even if the world at large relished a thrilling hat-trick from Gareth Bale.
The side would have been far more in tune with their manager on the return to that city for the 1-0 victory over Milan in this tie. It had the tone of a grown-up result and also, of course, held out the promise of progress to the quarter-finals.
Even so, Tottenham are still not quite the efficient and steely side that a manager might prefer to have. It would never have been thought wise to sit back against Milan, but they were compelled to do so at White Hart Lane. Perhaps there was a challenge to overcome the psychological difficulty in attacking with zest when victory is not essential.
Redknapp saw no reason to restore Bale to the starting line-up after back trouble and he was among the substitutes here, who included Ledley King, the defender who has not appeared for the club since October while trying once more to achieve fitness.
Perhaps he ought to have been grateful during the first 45 minutes that he was not on the field striving to regain match fitness when Milan were so full of conviction. It was peculiar as well to see a Premier League team discomfited by a high tempo from the opposition.
This was a more engrossing fixture than the Tottenham support and management and fans had either wished for or expected.
They would have been heartened a little when the second half started with an inswinging cross from Aaron Lennon on the right that reached the head of Crouch, but instead of attempting to score there was a knock-down to no one in particular. When Tottenham did ruffle the opposition it was done with pacy counterattacks.
Spirits were raised by the introduction of Bale, for Van der Vaart, in the 66th minute. Milan were still full of endeavour, though, and moments before the introduction of the Welshman there had been near panic in the Tottenham goalmouth as Gomes blocked a shot from Robinho without forcing it away to safety.
The whole side had become tense as they sought a careful route to full-time.
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TOTTENHAM: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Modric, Sandro, Pienaar (Jenas 70 mins), Van der Vaart (Bale 66 mins), Crouch (Pavlyuchenko 82 mins). Subs not used: Cudicini, Hutton, Defoe, King.
AC MILAN: Abbiati, Abate, Thiago Silva, Nesta, Jankulovski (Antonini 70), Boateng (Merkel 76), Flamini (Strasser 87), Seedorf, Robinho, Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Pato. Subs not used: Amelia, Papastathopoulos, Oddo, Yepes. Booked: Jankulovski, Flamini, Alexandre Pato.
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium).
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