{"id":53675,"date":"2025-11-05T11:58:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T11:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/?p=53675"},"modified":"2025-11-05T11:58:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T11:58:26","slug":"tottenhams-4-0-demolition-of-fc-copenhagen-was-highlighted-by-a-stunning-solo-strike-from-micky-van-de-ven-a-goal-so-outrageous-it-may-well-earn-him-a-place-in-the-puskas-award-conv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/?p=53675","title":{"rendered":"Tottenham\u2019s 4-0 demolition of FC Copenhagen was highlighted by a stunning solo strike from Micky van de Ven \u2014 a goal so outrageous it may well earn him a place in the Puskas Award conversation."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tottenham Hotspur moved up to 7th place in their Champions League group after a commanding 4-0 win over FC Copenhagen in matchweek four.<\/p>\n<p>After an abysmal showing in the narrow 1-0 loss to Chelsea at the weekend, Thomas Frank\u2019s side delivered the response the home crowd were desperate for, especially after a poor run of form at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Four different players found the net as Spurs ended a run of two straight European draws against Bodo\/Glimt and Monaco.<\/p>\n<p>With limited squad depth, Frank named the strongest lineup he could. Mohammed Kudus was unavailable due to injury, while Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero were brought back into the side for Djed Spence and Kevin Danso.<\/p>\n<p>First Half: Tottenham 1-0 FC Copenhagen<\/p>\n<p>Spurs started with far more urgency than fans had seen in recent fixtures, pressing high and playing with real intent.<\/p>\n<p>Brennan Johnson\u2019s early heavy touch wasted a promising chance, but he made up for it soon after when Xavi Simons sliced through the Copenhagen backline with a superb pass. Johnson rounded the goalkeeper and slotted in from a tight angle.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson then almost turned creator, racing down the flank and chipping a cross towards Pape Matar Sarr, who couldn\u2019t keep his header down.<\/p>\n<p>Xavi Simons was pulling the strings throughout and should\u2019ve had another assist, only for Randal Kolo Muani to drag a close-range effort wide. The Frenchman continued to get into great positions but couldn\u2019t convert, heading over just before half-time.<\/p>\n<p>Second Half: Tottenham 4-0 FC Copenhagen<\/p>\n<p>Spurs finally got the goal their dominance deserved five minutes after the restart. Kolo Muani chased Pedro Porro\u2019s long ball, blocked the keeper\u2019s clearance, and unselfishly squared for Wilson Odobert to tap home.<\/p>\n<p>The game briefly threatened to turn when Johnson was shown a straight red card for what appeared to be a soft challenge on Marcos Lopez\u2014but instead of collapsing, Spurs went up a level.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the moment of the night. Micky van de Ven collected the ball near his own box, powered past multiple Copenhagen players, and curled in a finish so outrageous it could easily land on the Puskas Award shortlist.<\/p>\n<p>Seconds later, Spurs struck again. Odobert launched a counter and picked out Romero, who squared the ball for Joao Palhinha to convert via a deflection off the keeper.<\/p>\n<p>Kolo Muani, who worked relentlessly, missed another golden chance one-on-one before being replaced by Richarlison, who rattled the crossbar with a header from Porro\u2019s inch-perfect cross.<\/p>\n<p>In stoppage time, Dane Scarlett earned a penalty on his Champions League debut, but Richarlison smacked the bar again from the spot.<\/p>\n<p>Full-time: Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 FC Copenhagen<\/p>\n<p>Spurs Web Man of the Match: Xavi Simons<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s next for Spurs?<\/p>\n<p>Playing with ten men somehow unlocked Spurs\u2019 best football of the season.<\/p>\n<p>The starting XI worked brilliantly together \u2014 sharper passing, better movement, and a huge difference with Romero back organising the defence. Xavi Simons, who\u2019d been criticised lately, was superb and would\u2019ve had more goal involvements if not for the red card forcing his withdrawal.<\/p>\n<p>Most importantly, Spurs finally played with confidence again: progressive, aggressive, and fluid.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the real test is whether they can carry this momentum into the Premier League \u2014 with Manchester United up next at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tottenham Hotspur moved up to 7th place in their Champions League group after a commanding 4-0 win over FC Copenhagen in matchweek four. After an abysmal showing in the narrow 1-0 loss to Chelsea at the weekend, Thomas Frank\u2019s side delivered the response the home crowd were desperate for, especially after a poor run of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":53676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fcf45447f2f2b03beb828a790f3dff4d.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53677,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53675\/revisions\/53677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}