Premier League U-18 Champions Cup 2014
               Hotspur Way, Enfield,
          Saturday 6th September 2014, 12.30pm

Spurs took on Benfica in the final of the Champions Cup having come through their group beating Everton 5-1 and drawing with Real Madrid 1-1. Benfica beat West ham 1-0 and Liverpool 2-0.

Spurs team(4-4-2) (White/Blue) – Voss, Walker-Peters, Maghoma, Carter-Vickers, Muscatt(Stylianidies ), Amos, Walkes, Pritchard(Ross ), Goddard(Azzaoui ), Harrison, Loft

Unused Subs:– Glover, Paul, Hayford, Georgiou, Daly, Edwards

Scorer:– Loft 15

Booked:– Azzaoui 38(Foul), Maghoma 53(UGC), Stylianidies 54(Foul)

Benfica(4-3-3)
Red/White)

Sent off:– No.9 53(Violent conduct)

Spurs lined up with Voss in goal behind Maghoma and Carter-Vickers with Walker-Peters at right back and Muscatt on the left. Amos anchored the midfield diamond with Walkes on the right and Pritchard on the left and Goddard behind the front pair of Harrison and Loft.

Spurs attacked the East end in the first half and had an early chance when Goddard fired Walkes' cross wide. Benfica got down the left with the effort going wide of the far post for a corner. Walker-Peters got down the right and whipped in a cross that found Muscatt up in support on the left. His drive was saved.

Benfica drove forward through the middle with the final ball hit wide. Spurs went in front when Walker-Peters got forward and put over a centre that Harrison attacked at the far post. His header was headed home by Loft in the six yard box.

Walker-Peters was Spurs' main attacking threat as he continually got down the right putting in crosses and another one landed just in front of Loft and Harrison who were closed down by the keeper and two defenders for a corner. A Portuguese free kick was blocked with the kicker having a second chance which he put wide. As the half ended Benfica had another free kick which was hit over the bar.

Benfica replaced their striker for the second half and started strongly. The right back got down the wing and his cross was turned wide. Their striker was presented with a chance when Voss slipped as he received a back pass, but the striker pulled his shot wide of the far post but had time to retrieve it and lay it back for a team mate to fire wide. The striker then ran into the area to get on the end of a centre but Voss saved his effort.

The play continued to be end to end as both sides looked for a goal. Azzaoui came on for Goddard as the formation changed to 4-3-3 with the winger working the left side. He was the first player to be booked as he tackled back after losing the ball. Benfica began to push Spurs back as they pressed. Unfortunately this led to the only flashpoint of the game. Maghoma tackled the Portuguese striker out on the right and the player lost his cool squaring up to the Spurs defender. Luckily Christian stood a head taller than the striker so they could not clash heads. The striker was shown a straight red and Maghoma a yellow.

Muscatt, who had been knocked clean off his feet blocking a cross earlier, was replaced by Stylianidies who went into the midfield with Amos taking over at left back. Stylianidies was not on long before he picked up a booking for a tackle from behind when he was passed. Spurs sought to see out the game going into the corners and dropping off as Benfica went all out for a goal. Voss had to make a couple more saves and the defence made important blocks and tackles to not concede before the final whistle.

This had been a good hard fought game with both sides playing attacking football. Walker-Peters had been unstoppable on the right and not just in this game. I would like to see this tournament played in front of an audience in future as there has been some good football played. It would have been good to also have teamsheets as I would have liked to put names to some of the players on display.

Spurs become the first winners of the Premier League U-18 Champions Cup having played some good football in all three games they played. Kyle Walker-Peters picked up the Player of the Tournament award for his outstanding displays.

N.B. Both Real Madrid and Benfica are sponsored by Emirates which I hope is a good omen.

I have to apologise for some lack of detail in the stats as my pen ran out during the game and I could not make notes on times as well as the game being too absorbing to take your eyes away.

Ray

· U-18 Champions Cup Day One - 05.09.14

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