Tottenham got over the line in their first Champions League group stage game against Villarreal, however former referee Mark Clattenburg believes a major officiating error went in their favour.
Spurs got off to a blistering start when they took the lead through an own goal in the first four minutes, however the performance wavered over the game and they ended up holding on a bit.
Lucas Bergvall enjoyed a standout performance for the second time in a row, as he continues to make his case to Thomas Frank that he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet.
Yellow cards were handed out frequently by referee Rade Obrenovic, with four Spurs players picking up cautions in the competition curtain-raiser.
Mark Clattenburg thinks referee made big mistake during Tottenham vs Villarreal
One of those was Xavi Simons, and after being booked the Dutchman brought down Nicolas Pepe when he looked to lead a counter attack for Villarreal.
The referee did not issue Simons a second yellow card, however Clattenburg believes that a red card should have been issued to the Spurs man.
He said during coverage for Amazon Prime: “I think he’s very fortunate. You’ve seen Van de Ven make a foul in the middle to stop a promising attack, and I think Simons there is wanting to stop that promising attack.
“For me, I think that’s a second yellow card, but VAR cannot interfere with second yellow cards. I think the referee gets that one wrong.”
Tottenham make most of their luck
At the end of the day, points are the only thing that matter when it comes to the Champions League group stages, and putting three on the board at this early stage is a great sign for Spurs.
They will be well aware that their performance levels need to improve, however Frank has a number of games to fix any issues that he might have noticed from the performance.
The manager hinted after the game he wasn’t too happy with the attacking side of Spurs’ performance, however lauded the defensive performance that protected another clean sheet.
It is now four clean sheets already this season for Spurs, a number that is already bearing down on the total managed in Ange Postecoglou’s final season in charge.
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