Tottenham advance to CL round of 16 after draw at Barca

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FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi (R) competes during an UEFA Champions League Group B match between FC Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur in Barcelona, Spain on Dec. 11, 2018. The match ended 1-1. (Xinhua/Joan Gosa)

Everyone was happy at the end of the 1-1 draw between FC Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspurs in the Camp Nou stadium on Tuesday night as the result allowed Barca to set a new record of 29 games unbeaten at home in the Champions League, while Lucas Moura's late goal for the visitors allowed them to qualify for the 16.


Tottenham needed to match Inter Milan's result at home to PSV Eindhoven and with the Italians failing to win, Moura's strike earned the English club a qualification which had seemed unlikely after they took just one point from their first three group games.


With Barcelona already assured a place in the next round, coach Ernesto Valverde rested key players such as Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Leo Messi and Luis Suarez and gave starts to Munir, Thomas Vermaelen, Arthur, Phillipe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele, who was in the side despite being fined for arriving late at training two days earlier.


The game was only six minutes old when Dembele showed why Barca have persevered with him as he ran from the halfway line, turning the Barca defense inside out and beating Hugo Lloris with a low shot to score a contender for goal of the season.


The goal left Tottenham groggy for a while but with Heung-Min Son active in attack the visitors got back into the game after 30 minutes.


Son just failed to get on the end of a Danny Rose cross and then got behind the Barca defense only for Jasper Cillessen to save well when the Korean was favorite to score.


Cillessen then got down to his right to deny Son, while at the other end Ivan Rakitic produced a straightforward save from Lloris from outside the box, before Coutinho glanced the outside of the post just before halftime.


Sergio Busquets replaced Rakitic for the second half, but Barca had Cillessen to thank for another good save, this time to deny Cristian Eriksen, before Kane fired over the bar, as Clement Lenglet did just enough to put him off his shot.


Dembele fired just over before Leo Messi came on to replace Munir, who earlier had a goal correctly ruled out for offside.


Cillessen was again the hero for Barca on two occasions denying first Eriksen and then producing an incredible save to frustrate Spurs' substitute Lucas Moura on the line.


Tottenham had controlled the second half and finally got their reward when Moura was on hand to side-foot home a low ball from Harry Kane and not even Cillessen could save it this time.


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