Maurizio Sarri was handed defeat on his Juventus debut as Harry Kane’s last minute goal gave Champions League runners-up Tottenham 3-2 victory in International Champions Cup opener.
Gianluigi Buffon started his first game since returning to Juve, but Matthijs de Ligt and Adrien Rabiot were substitutes against a Tottenham side made up of predominantly youth graduates.
The Bianconeri already showed signs of adopting Sarri’s passing style in the first half, but they fell behind to an Erik Lamela tap-in after Buffon parried away Troy Parrott’s powerful low shot.
In the meantime, it was shaping up to be the Son Heung-min-Cristiano Ronaldo show, with full house at Singapore’s National Stadium cheering their every touch.
The former Napoli boss threw on Wojciech Szczesny, Merih Demiral, Adrien Rabiot and Gonzalo Higuain for the second half, which Spurs countered by bringing on several of their Champions League finalists, including Lucas Moura and Harry Kane.
Higuain was given the captain’s armband, and he pulled the Old Lady level, finishing off some nice interchanging on the edge of the box.
Ronaldo made it 2-1 just four minutes later, finishing off an angled cross, but Tanguy Ndombele – an ex-Juve target – showed why Tottenham made him their record signing, his eye-of-the-needle pass releasing Lucas for a first-time flick past Szczesny.
The match appeared to be heading for a penalty shootout, until Rabiot was robbed in the centre-circle and Kane stunningly lobbed his former Arsenal rival in the dying embers.
Juventus: Buffon (Szczesny 46); Cancelo, Bonucci (De Ligt 63), Rugani (Demiral 46), De Sciglio; Emre Can (Rabiot 46), Pjanic, Matuidi (Kastanos 76); Bernardeschi, Mandzukic (Higuain 46), Ronaldo (Matheus 63)
Tottenham Hotspur: Gazzaniga; Walker-Peters, Alderweireld (Foyth 46), Tanganga (Vertonghen 46), Georgiou; Skipp, Winks, Dele (Sissoko 46); Lamela (Ndombele 63); Parrott (Kane 46), Son (Lucas 46)
Photo Credit: Twitter/tottenhamhotspur.com