Richarlison unblocked Tottenham against Marseille

Signed from Everton’s chequebook, Richarlison opened his scoring chapter at Tottenham with a brace that ended a superior Marseille’s first-half fightback but fell short after being sent off by central defender Chancel Mbemba after the break .

Richarlison played Harry Kane, now dull, and allowed Tottenham, gray for three quarters of the game, to return to the Champions League with a victory (2-0) after two seasons of absence.

Tottenham’s first half, with Clément Lenglet starting in defense, was disappointing against a superior Marseille who closed all lines of attack with high pressure and took the ball.

A superior Marseille

The French, very compact as a group, dominated the individual duels, the secondary moves and also and strong on the wings, but they missed the newcomer Alexis Sánchez, their most worthy striker, due to a suspension carried by Inter because he lacked the final attacking touch to translate his best game into scoring chances.

In fact, the first half was basically spent in the middle of the field, with no depth on the part of either team and no shots between the three posts. The only dangerous shot came in the 40th minute when Tottenham, imprecise and lacking fluidity in their actions, managed to go on the counterattack and run the ball, but Harry Kane’s cross shot missed the target very little.

Mbemba’s red

Just after the break, the game completely changed scenery as Marseille remained outnumbered. Kane played a long ball to Son Heung-min and centre-back Chancel Mbemba saw a direct red for bringing him down as he raced towards goal.

Igor Turdo sacrificed Gerson to bring Leonardo Balerdi into defence, but the Frenchman had no choice but to cede control to Tottenham who, more used to playing on the counterattack, were forced to do it in a way they didn’t like, having ball. .

And so it is because the roles are interchanged. Antonio Conte replaced Emerosn Royal for Dejan Kulusevski in search of a wider offensive but the territorial dominance of the ‘spurs’, misguided, did not allow to take away the chances.

Richarlison, decisive

However, a quarter of an hour from the end Richarlison made a bolt jump on a mistake by the French defence, leaving him free to head home a cross from the left by Ivan Perisic. Catalan goalkeeper Pau López got hold of the ball but his former team couldn’t stop him from opening the can.

Although Marseille tried to react with a dangerous approach, Tottenham were sentenced shortly after thanks to another headed goal by Richarlison, who again in position 9 beat Samuel Gigot to jump on a cross from Pierre- Emile Höjbjerg and his shot, after hitting the post, it’s 2-0 (80′).

Olympique liquidated, Tottenham are already waiting for Manchester City in the Premier on Saturday and on Tuesday they will visit Sporting de Portugal, leader of group D of this Champions after the first day thanks to their great victory in Frankfurt against Eintracht (0-3).