LONDON (Reuters) – Harry Kane endured a quiet night for Tottenham Hotspur and Son Heung-min’s goal drought continued but new signing Richarlison showed against Olympique de Marseille on Wednesday that keeping those two quiet is no longer enough against the London club.
The former Everton striker thumped in two late headers to give Tottenham a 2-0 win in their Champions League Group D opener on a night when the hosts had laboured.
Kane, who already has five Premier League goals this season, had a couple of shots blocked and fired wide in a poor first half, while Son’s run forced Chancel Mbemba into the rash tackle that meant Marseille were reduced to 10 men in the 48th minute.
But it was Richarlison, the 60 million pounds ($69 million)signing, who eclipsed his two more illustrious forward team mates.
As against Fulham on Saturday when he produced a superb all-round display and was denied his first goal for Tottenham by a VAR decision, he offered Antonio Conte another dimension.
Both his headed goals came from quality crosses, the first from Ivan Perisic and the second from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Richarlison’s ability in the air could prove to be an important factor for Tottenham this season and it would not be a surprise if he started a third successive game away to champions Manchester City on Saturday.
Kane was delighted to see the goals being shared around.
“Richarlison has been great since coming in, trained hard, waited for his opportunities and played well when he got them. Couple of great headers today,” the England captain said.
“We did not keep the ball well in the first half, second half was a bit better but we kept knocking on the door and kept putting the crosses in.
“In the end Richarlison popped off a couple of goals.”
Conte praised Richarlison’s impact but was not entirely happy with his team’s display as until Mbemba was sent off Tottenham were second best against the French side.
“In the first half we lost a lot of duels. When you play against this type of team, really aggressive, it’s important you can keep the ball. Second half we did this,” Conte said.
“Marseille are a good team. For us it was important to get the three points and start well in this competition. We need to take confidence. They were unbeaten this season.”
($1 = 0.8667 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
