Tottenham coach Thomas Frank had a rather quirky take on his side’s loss to Paris Saint Germain in the UEFA Super Cup on Thursday night. Talking about his tactics which kept the Champions League winners at bay till the 85th minute with Spurs taking a 2-0 lead, Frank said as per the Guardian, “It was a special operation. In medical terms the operation succeeded but the patient died, so not that good in the end. But we worked on a gameplan that was a little bit different and very close to succeeding.”
This was former Brentford coach Frank’s first competitive game in charge after taking over as Spurs manager after the sacking of Ange Postecoglou. “The single result, 2-2, is good. If you look into the performance, the shift the players put in … wow, what a mentality. There are lots of things to be happy with. That needs to be the foundation going forward,” he said further.
Tottenham’s meltdown
In the match, Paris Saint-Germain produced a dramatic late rally before beating Tottenham in a penalty shootout to win the UEFA Super Cup, securing a fifth trophy of 2025 for the French club.
Nuno Mendes converted the clinching spot kick in the shootout to complete a PSG comeback that looked unlikely when Tottenham held a 2-0 lead in the 85th minute of regulation in the annual match between the most recent winners of the Champions League and Europa League.
Lee Kang-in gave PSG hope by reducing the deficit with a fierce shot into the bottom corner and fellow substitute Gonçalo Ramos grabbed an equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time to make it 2-2 at Stadio Friuli in Udine.
Even then, Tottenham moved into position to pull off an upset by taking a 2-0 lead in the shootout after Vitinha’s first-up miss for PSG. However, Micky van de Ven and Mathys Tel failed from the spot for Spurs and PSG scored four penalties in a row, the last of which was slammed home by Mendes.
(With agency inputs)
