After 15 minutes at Wembley, Giorgio Chiellini looked as though he had been playing for an hour already.
The great Italian defender had just seen Harry Kane sweep past him and run on to a pass from Dele Alli. As Chiellini grappled at a blur of blue and white, he may as well have been trying to take hold of a wisp of smoke.
Chiellini is 33 this year and has always carried the kind of countenance that probably makes him look a little haggard as soon as he has pulls back the sheets in the morning.
Giorgio Chiellini looked tired early but showed his class on a memorable night for Juventus
The experienced Italian defender produced a masterful performance at Wembley to win the tie
Nevertheless, his early experience at Wembley last night had little to do with age and everything to do with the way that Tottenham can play when the mood takes him. These days, this is most of the time.
Before this game Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino had encouraged his players to play with freedom. He was – he said – a ‘dreamer’ and would not countenance the kind of pragmatic performance that some other coaches would encourage for a game that began with his team in the ascendency after the first leg.
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris went further. The Frenchman said that this was a night when we would see Tottenham’s ‘real face’. It always sounded like a sentence that may come back to bite Lloris and after Tottenham outplayed Juventus for an hour that is exactly what happened.
Despite falling behind at Wembley, Juventus responded and won the game 4-3 on aggregate
So what went wrong here? What took Tottenham from a position of dominance to heartbreak within a matter of moments?
We cannot say that they were wrong to take the game to the Italian champions the way that they did in the first half. This is how Pochettino likes to his teams to play and this is the only way they will ever play. This, largely, is why we like to watch them play.
But two other factors remain at play here. One is that this Tottenham team do not have the mentality of winners. Not yet. It sounds glib but it’s true. They are not mean enough or tight enough and they do not concentrate well enough when it matters.
That is why they not only conceded two goals in the space of a couple of minutes completely out of the blue but conceded two very bad ones indeed. On both occasions, the Tottenham defence was caught desperately square.
Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala took their goals very well indeed but goodness me they were given every encouragement and time to do so.
Paulo Dybala scored the Italian’s second goal and that was the difference over the two legs
Dybala was absent in the first leg in Turin through injury but took his goal well at Wembley
The other issue is, arguably, that of Tottenham’s squad depth. They are as good as anybody bar Manchester City from numbers one to eleven – as we still like to say – but perhaps not when we go beyond that.
The debate about Spurs and money is an old one and not one to repeat here. All that matters is that when player such as Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose are absent – as they were here – Pochettino’s team lose a tiny percentage of their resilience and strength. We are talking small fractions but it is enough.
Consider that Juventus had not managed a single shot on goal before they equalised beyond the hour. That is an incredible statistic for a side that has contested two of the last three Champions League finals. It is also a measure of Tottenham’s dominance of the football match.
We cannot say that Spurs had control, though, as it is impossible to control a game if you are liable to horror show moments. When they came, Juventus took exquisite, cold-eyed advantage of them and that, largely, is why they are in the last eight of this competition and Tottenham are not.
Let us not be too critical of Tottenham. Still, we should admire them. It is their confidence and their free running expression that can make them so irresistable to watch.
Heung Min-Son opened the scoring for Tottenham and produced an excellent performance
It would be wrong to be overly critical of Spurs when many put in very good performances
When Son scored his goal midway through the first half, Pochettino’s plan seemed to be working. His team had started with such an adrenaline surge that you could feel it in just about every one of Wembley’s 80,000 seats.
At times Juventus could not cope with it and as the inquests in to what happened here are played out this week and beyond we should remember this. Son was terrific, as was Kane and Dele Alli and, as always, Christian Eriksen.
Pochettino had spoken of the way his team’s standing in Europe had been increased after big results in the group stage. It was tempting to extend that view to English football as a whole on the back of the way City and Liverpool have played also.
We should still do that. This European night brought not despair, only disappointment. Spurs will be back and they will be playing the same way too. The line is fine in Europe, the width of a goal post at times. One day Pochettino and his players will surely fall on the right side of it.