Tottenham 1-0 Liverpool: Late Lucas Bergvall winner gives Spurs semi-final advantage in Carabao Cup
Lucas Bergvall’s 86th-minute strike gave Tottenham a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final tie.
After a 6-3 win for the Reds when these sides met just a few weeks ago in the Premier League, expectations were high for plenty more goals and another action-packed encounter.
It was a more controlled affair, though, with 11 minutes of stoppage-time played in the first-half after Rodrigo Bentancur was stretchered off, having landed awkwardly when trying to flick on a header at the near post.
Dominic Solanke thought he had broken the deadlock with 15 minutes to be remaining, only for VAR to rule it out for an incredibly tight offside goal.
The Spurs striker played his role when the goal did come, running in behind and laying the ball off for Bergvall to sweep home, a timely moment for his first goal for the club.
Liverpool were furious that Bergvall was on the pitch to provide that winner, arguing minutes earlier that he should have been dismissed for a second yellow card having slid in and wiped out Kostas Tsimikas.
Only six minutes were on the clock when a lengthy stoppage occurred due to a head injury for Bentancur.
The midfielder was taken off on a stretcher in the 15th minute after he appeared to head the floor from a corner - with Radu Dragusin denied by Alisson Becker moments later.
Spurs later confirmed Bentancur was conscious and talking and would go to hospital for further checks.
The stop-start nature of the tie continued with young Liverpool centre-back Jarell Quansah forced off not long after Mohamed Salah had curled wide from outside the penalty area.
Kinsky made his first save after 33 minutes but it was a routine stop from Alexis Mac Allister's header before Liverpool upped the ante in first-half stoppage time.
Salah chipped over after a fine run by Cody Gakpo, who almost surprised Kinsky soon after with a long-range shot before the Dutch forward curled off target as it remained goalless at the break.
Clear-cut opportunities had been few and far between until the 56th minute when Spurs should have taken the lead.
Bergvall brilliantly slide in on Alisson to win possession inside Liverpool's penalty area and Pedro Porro was played in, but chipped wide much to Postecoglou's frustration.
Slot made a triple substitution on the hour mark with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez introduced, but Salah was kept on the pitch.
The Egyptian almost helped create the breakthrough with 21 minutes left when he played through Nunez only for Kinsky to stand up well to block the shot.
Alexander-Arnold did manage to beat Kinsky from a tight angle moments later but Dragusin got back to clear off the line before Mac Allister dragged his follow-up wide.
Postecoglou had seen enough and replaced captain Son Heung-min with Werner, who immediately raced past Alexander-Arnold but sent his effort into the side-netting.
It lifted the home team and Tottenham thought they had taken the lead in the 76th-minute when Solanke latched on to Porro's perfectly weighted pass and rolled past Alisson.
VAR was required and Solanke's effort was eventually ruled out for offside, which referee Stuart Attwell announced to the whole stadium in a first for English football.
Attwell had another decision to make when Bergvall caught Tsimikas late, but the already booked Swedish midfielder avoided a sending-off and made his second life count with four minutes left.
Solanke impressively held off Ibrahima Konate and teed up Bergvall to drill into the bottom corner from 12 yards to spark big celebrations.
