Kane brace gives us advantage over Dinamo Zagreb - report and debrief

A solid first-leg performance against Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday night, capped off by a Harry Kane double, put us in a good position for the return match of our UEFA Europa League round of 16 tie next week.

Kane struck once in each half – his 25th and 26th goals of the season – as we dominated throughout against our Croatian opponents, enjoying 67 per cent of the possession and were rarely threatened, holding onto a vital clean sheet. In fact, it was in the opening minute that Dinamo had their best chance of the match when Mislav Orsic latched into a loose pass on half-way and broke towards our goal but his weak shot was comfortable for Hugo Lloris.

The visitors had only conceded three goals in their previous eight Europa League games but we penetrated their defence to take the lead in the 24th minute, thanks to some great work from Erik Lamela. He collected the ball 30 yards out and advanced towards goal, breaking into the area and flicking a shot with the outside of his left foot which struck the post with the rebound falling straight to Kane who calmly slotted home.

We were completely dominant in that first half as we played some great football without really carving out another genuine opportunity, while at the other end we restricted Dinamo to just three touches inside our area in that first period.

It was a similar story after the break too as we controlled the play throughout but had just the one goal to show for efforts, although it was a vital goal to give us a two-goal cushion to take to Croatia next week. It came with 20 minutes remaining, Tanguy Ndombele finding Serge Aurier wide on the right and his cross was fluffed by Kevin Theophile-Catherine straight to Kane, who shifted the ball onto his right and hit a crisp shot into the far corner past Dominik Livakovic.

Kane then showed his value to the cause at the other end of the pitch when he cleared Rasmus Lauritsen’s header away from in front of his own goal, while substitute Gareth Bale almost extended our lead with a vicious dipping 25-yard free-kick which Livakovic had to punch away for a corner. Two chances in the final seconds were spurned by Bale and Carlos Vinicius which could have given the scoreline an even better look, but two goals and a clean sheet made for a satisfactory night’s work. The only blemish was a late yellow card for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who will now miss the return leg.

Advantage at the half-way point

A clean sheet and a two-goal advantage was a good outcome for us – our fifth straight win in all competitions – although it perhaps could have been even better had we made the most of our dominant display.

The opening goal was just reward for a strong start. Kane actually started the move from just 10 yards inside his own half with a searching pass for Heung-Min Son and although he didn’t win the first ball, Dele Alli picked up the rebound and found Lamela. He shrugged off Lovro Majer and then headed for goal, shimmying past Theophile-Catherine before hitting the post with the ball bouncing straight to Kane, who had followed up his initial pass and was on hand to stroke the ball past Livakovic.

Bruno Petkovic looked to bend one into the far corner just after the half-hour mark but didn’t get enough curl and Lloris was able to save, while we had penalty claims waved away four minutes after the break. As Ndombele took on Majer in the area, he appeared to go past him and then be brought down but the Dutch referee Serdar Gözübüyük didn’t award anything and a VAR check agreed with him, despite our protestations.

Dele hit a deep cross to the far post which Kane volleyed back across goal and Lauritsen was there to clear the danger, Petkovic drilled into the side-netting on the stretch at the other end, before we made a triple substitution on 64 minutes with Bale, Bergwijn and Lucas Moura replacing Lamela, Son and Dele. It almost paid immediate dividends when Bale’s cross with the outside of his left foot was met on the volley by Bergwijn but Livakovic parried it away. We continued to probe and got the second goal thanks to Kane’s typically clinical finish, and his clearance from Lauritsen soon after was important as the header might have beaten Lloris. Just moments before that, Ben Davies produced an equally vital touch to prevent Petkovic’s deep cross from finding Lirim Kastrati.

Deep into stoppage time, the result on the night wasn’t in doubt but the overall picture could have changed for the better for us had either of our late chances gone in. First, Bergwijn clipped over a cross to the far post which Bale just couldn’t prod home on the stretch, before Vinicius did well to make space on the left edge of the area but then didn’t connect well with his shot and the goalkeeper saved comfortably.

Kane on fire

As well as reaching the tally of 26 goals for the season – already more than his last two campaigns – Kane has now scored 30 goals in his last 34 starts for us in major European competition, including nine in his last seven.

We have now scored 25 goals in the Europa League this season – only Arsenal (27) have netted more. Also, we have now scored two or more goals in each of our last seven Europa League matches (22 in total).

We have won 10 of our last 12 matches in all European competition, losing only to Royal Antwerp in October, 2020. We are unbeaten in seven matches (W4 D2), winning the last four in a row.

Team news on Thursday saw Jose make seven changes from the weekend's win over Crystal Palace – in came Aurier, Dier, Davies, Sissoko, Ndombele, Dele and Lamela for Matt Doherty, Toby Alderweireld, Sergio Reguilon, Hojbjerg, Harry Winks, Bale and Lucas.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'We could, we should, we deserved to score one more goal'

Jose said: "To be a good result, we need to qualify - only when we qualify after the second leg can we say that this is a good result. To win 2-0 at home in the first leg is never a bad result theoretically, but we could, we should, we deserved to score one more goal and be in a much better position.

"But, sometimes, it’s better, a short result, because you keep the focus, you keep the concentration for the second leg, so we have to go there and we cannot defend the advantage, because that’s a small advantage to defend, we have to go there and try to win the game."

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Kane 24, 70.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Dier, Sanchez, Hojbjerg; Dinamo Zagreb – Ademi, Ivanusec, Ristovski.

Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands).

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Light rain, moderate breeze, seven degrees.