Tottenham Hotspur 5 Shakhtar Donetsk 1

 We followed up the game on Saturday with a trip to London to see Shakhtar take on Spurs in a friendly at the Tottenham Stadium. It was good to catch up with Jonny, Phil and Dean and also to go to the Elbow Room for the first time in years.

Not for Spurs fans, but for me the highlight of the match was the chance to see Piatov play in goal for the Miners for the last time before hanging up his gloves. He only lasted 15 minutes and was given a guard of honour. 

Ukrainian football has obviously been impacted by the war and to be honest Shakhtar look to have suffered a bit more than other clubs and for the first time in years are not favourites to win the title, therefore it's perhaps not surprising that Spurs dismantled what was a bit of a makeshift team. 

Tottenham opened the scoring in 38th minute when Maddison went down like the proverbial sack of ..... to 'win' Spurs a penalty, which Kane converted from the spot. Their lead was short-lived though with Venezuelan, Kevin Kelsy equalising for Shakhtar right at the end of the half.

If this gave Shakhtar any hope, it was certainly short-lived. The second half unfortunately saw Spurs completely dominate them. Harry Kane helped himself to three more goals  and then Dane Scarlett came on to make it 5-1 in stoppage time.

Not a great day for Shakhtar, but some good money will have been raised for charity and Levy can use the Kane goals as leverage when Bayern come knocking again.




























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