Under-19s win in Barcelona to advance

Our Under-19s inflicted Barcelona's first defeat in this season's UEFA Youth League in the Mini Estadi on Tuesday to progress to the knockout stages.

It was a match the players knew they had to win after Inter's victory against PSV earlier in the day and it was mission accomplished thanks to Troy Parrott's strike after 17 minutes and substitute Rodel Richards' goal with his first touch off the bench in the final minute.

It was no less than we deserved. Tactically spot-on, our high press caused Barca problems throughout. Fluid passing created numerous chances and it was only down to goalkeeper Arnau Tenas we weren't out of sight by 65 minutes.

Defensively we were sound as well and the home side only created four chances of note in the 90 minutes - the closest when Anssumane Fati rifled inches wide from 12 yards with 78 minutes on the clock.

We now go into the play-off round of the competition in February, where we'll play for a place in the last 16 - only group winners progress to the last 16.

The lines were drawn in the opening 15 minutes when our high press led to a first shot at goal from Jamie Bowden, a penalty appeal waved away and another effort on goal from Paris Maghoma taken by Tenas. At the other end, a warning as the pacy Konrad De La Fuente got to the byline and squared for Fati whose goalbound shot was brilliant blocked by TJ Eyoma.

The all-important breakthrough was a picture book goal. Tariq Hinds worked his way into the box down the right and squared for Maghoma, who had a clear shot in front of him. However, he had the presence of mind to roll the ball across for Parrott to slide home, 1-0, 17 minutes and the first step taken.

Dilan Markanday pinged inches wide and at the other end, Fati dragged wide and Hinds cleared off the line from Jose Marsa. We finished strongly though as Maghoma fired wide and Parrott broke clear but opted to square rather than shoot and it was cut out.

The second half followed a similar pattern as Parrott fizzed just over and was then denied one-on-one by Tenas, who repeated the trick a minute later by tipping over a header from a corner. Tenas then stretched to touch away Jack Roles' curler.

Into the final 15 minutes and Barca's best chance as Fati rifled inches wide from De La Fuente's cross. We stayed strong as the home team pushed on but then the golden moment, 90 minutes on the clock and Richards, just on as a substitute, bundled the ball home with his first touch after Tenas again denied Roles.

The players all joined the celebrations - they deserved it.

Key moment

There were a few - TJ Eyoma's crucial block to prevent Fati opening the scoring early on and of course, Rodel Richards' late goal - although that was more of a magic moment than a key moment! The key moment therefore has to be Troy Parrott's opener, a huge lift as the team were rewarded on the scoresheet for such a bright start - and not forgetting Paris Maghoma's part in the goal.

Coach's view

Coach Matt Wells was pleased with the team's performance and to see us qualify out of the group - in particular highlighting the improvement shown from our last outing on matchday five when we slumped to a 4-2 home defeat to Inter.

"It's terrific from the boys, a massive effort." he said. "Obviously the last result against Inter was disappointing. We should have qualified way before this game but we put ourselves in a difficult position. Credit to the players, though, because we've got belief. We believe we can beat anyone and we've proven that today with the mentality and the quality of the performance combined. I thought there was only going to be one winner in the game - of course there were moments in the second half where we really had to defend and show some resilience but in top, top games you're always going to have to do that and I thought we did that extremely well."

With Inter having leapfrogged us into second spot earlier in the day, anything other than victory in Barcelona would have eliminated us from the competition. But Matt said the players had adopted that must-win attitude right from the moment they stepped onto the team plane in London.

"We spelled out the permutations in our meeting a couple of days ago but our mission was always to come here and win," he explained. "We took confidence from the first performance against them where for 55 or 60 minutes we absolutely dominated. We knew that with the way we pressed, they would feel uncomfortable. We recovered the ball well, too, and it's so important that you keep the ball against teams like this because they're not used to facing teams that can dominate possession and we did that superbly well. Even in the second half, in those periods where we threatened to look a little bit fatigued and Barcelona had us pinned in the final third, as soon as we recovered the ball we still managed to pop out and play. That comes from the mentality to be fresh in your mind. You could see that the players were so determined to come here and get a result and they've done it.

"Ultimately, though, all we've done is qualify for the chance to qualify. We're still not through to the next round with the way we're looking at it, but the players can take massive belief and confidence from the quality of that performance, which was in stark contrast to the mentality we showed against Inter. We've shown that we've got some outstanding talent in this group and if we deliver this performance like we've done against Barcelona - and not like against Inter - again consistently over the next four or five games, I believe we've got the ability to go a long way."

Match data

UEFA Youth League, Group B.

Goals: Spurs - Parrott 17, Richards 90.

Yellow cards: Barcelona - Mingueza 88; Spurs - Oakley-Boothe 6, White 34, Cirkin 85.

Referee: Antti Munukka (Finland).

Venue: Mini Estadi, FC Barcelona.

Weather: Sunny, 14 degrees at kick-off.