Norwich 0 Tottenham 5: Son, Kulusevski and Kane strikes seal Champions League football in emphatic style
TOTTENHAM fans could be forgiven for feeling as sick as Harry Kane did on Friday ahead of this Champions League decider.
In the end, they were left only with butterflies of excitement as Antonio Conte pulled off his top-four “miracle” with nothing remotely Spursy in sight.
January signings Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur combined as the Swede netted the crucial opener.
Kane, who had Spurs fans fearing the worst when pulling out of a media event three days ago with tummy trouble, got the second before Kulusevski struck a belter.
The procession had begun in earnest by then but it got better for the delirious away fans as South Korean hero Son Heung-Min netted twice to win the Premier League golden boot.
His second on the day - and his 23rd league goal of the season - was sheer magic as he blasted into the top corner before being mobbed by his team-mates.
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Norwich were woeful but considering what was on the line for Tottenham, how coolly they came through it as a testament of how Conte has transformed this side.
Languishing in ninth when he succeeded Nuno Espirito Santo in November, Conte was not asked by chairman Daniel Levy to make the top four, simply to improve the team.
But Conte said in his pre-match press conference that had Levy made that specific request, the answer would have been: “Are you joking?”
Tottenham were only six points off the Champions League spots back then but looked miles off a tilt towards Europe’s elite competition.
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Talismanic striker Kane, still in a funk after a dream move to Manchester City had failed to come off, had only ONE league goal at that point.
It is why Conte consistently referred to the chances of his side reaching the top four as a “miracle”.
Even as recently as February, the ex-Chelsea boss hinted to the media he could quit following a shocking 1-0 defeat at Burnley - a message he repeated in the dressing room too.
Conte later revealed it was a motivational strategy and it paid off handsomely as Spurs won all but four of their final 14 league games.
His 3-4-3 formation has brought the best out of Spurs in defence and attack, with Son and Kane blasting in the goals to take them to the Promised Land.
Kane’s fitness - and the health of all the Spurs squad - was thrown into doubt by ex-Tottenham striker Gary Lineker on Friday.
The Match of the Day presenter tweeted that he had heard of a food-poisoning outbreak in the Tottenham camp, bringing memories back of ‘Lasagne-gate’ in 2006 when an sickness-hit Spurs missed out on the Champions League on the final day.
But it proved to be a false alarm as all the squad from last weekend’s win at Burnley, including Kane, lined up at Carrow Road.
Spurs soon took control of the game and Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg could have eased the tension when Kulusevski picked him out eight minutes in, but the Dane fired over.
He made up for it soon afterwards though, firing a pinpoint long ball over the top for Bentancur to chase.
The Uruguayan squared it for his fellow January signing Kulusevski to tap home from a few yards out.
Eric Dier provided the one nerve-jangling moment, if you could call it that, soon after when he passed the ball to Milot Rashica, but the Kosovan fired wide.
Then just after the half hour it was 2-0 thanks to a rush of blood from Tim Krul.
The Canaries keeper’s awful pass was picked up by Bentancur who clipped in a cross that Kane headed into an unguarded net.
It was his 17th league goal of the campaign - not bad for one deemed by many to have been a poor one by his sky-high standards.
The strike was also his ninth on the final day of the season, equalling a joint-record set by Andy Cole and ex-Spurs striker Les Ferdinand.
If the game was not up already, it certainly was come 64 minutes when Kulusevski blasted a brilliant third.
Kane set away the Swede, who easily shrugged off Dimitris Giannoulis’ weak challenge and bent the ball into the top corner.
From then on it was all about Son’s bid to win the league’s most deadly striker.
It looked like it was not going to go his way when Kulusevski squared it to him when he should have taken a shot himself, and Max Aarons nipped in to clear.
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But Son was not to be denied as he grabbed his first by completing a lovely move involving Kane and sub Lucas Moura, firing clinically after the Brazilian’s deft touch.
The South Korean made it 23 for the campaign with a strike of breathtaking quality, curling in from 25 yards before being mobbed by his team-mates.
Conte claimed he had never heard of the term ‘Spursy’ this week and by the signs of it, his team are beginning to forget its meaning too, given how comfortable this was.
Now the focus turns towards what the ex-Inter Milan boss can build in North London - provided he stays.
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Conte has been careful not to commit beyond the end of this season, pointing out that he needs to be backed in the transfer market.
For Tottenham fans’ sakes, you hope he will be as they have a serial winner in the dugout - one who can end the Spursy curse once and for all.
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