It perhaps wasn’t the triumphant evening Thomas Frank envisaged when idly dreaming of his first Champions League dalliance in a 30-year coaching career. Nor was it the stirring realisation of the shackle-releasing home start of the post-Levy era. But for Spurs, a win on their return to a seat at the top European table represented the bare minimum.
A fair bit has changed since they were forcibly removed from these premises. Cristian Romero was the only player who started against both Villarreal and in Spurs’ previous Champions League game almost 30 months ago. The transformation on the pitch has been matched by new regimes in the boardroom and the dugout.
Antonio Conte would officially last just 16 more days in charge after limping out of the competition with a goalless draw at home to AC Milan and continuing to lament how the dishonour of coaching this ludicrous football club had somehow befallen him.
“We cannot invite the win or hope for a miracle one day that a trophy goes into our training ground or pitch,” he said after a must-win game in which his final substitution was bringing Davinson Sanchez on for Dejan Kulusevski in the 83rd minute while chasing a goal.
Ange Postecoglou performed that “miracle” in Bilbao four months ago to secure what might forever remain the most ludicrous qualification in Champions League history, and it was that labour of a season Frank enjoyed the first fruits of here.
That was certainly the case for the first half an hour or so anyway, arguably up to half-time for those of a glass-half-full persuasion.
Spurs scored from their first meaningful foray into the opposition half, Villarreal keeper Luiz Junior absurdly fumbling a straightforward Lucas Bergvall cross into his own net. Then they just gradually sort of stopped, descending into a tempo-less mess of sloppy passes in the middle third, last-ditch defending and periodic Arsenal booing just to feel something.
Nicolas Pepe did his utmost to respond with a couple of efforts which curled just wide and a clever pass which Tajon Buchanan ought to have converted. Then Thomas Partey came on for the final ten minutes to underline the inherent difference between a pantomime villain and, well, a named former Premier League footballer in his 30s.
But really it was a deeply existential experience for Europa League winners who are not at all well-versed in the ways of Gazprom. Six players made their Champions League debut and the furthest this coach had gone in Europe before was the fourth qualifying round of the Europa League a decade ago.
It was a learning curve for the entire squad and staff; Villarreal are a capable team with a strong pedigree on the continent who beat Barcelona away at the end of last season to aid their qualification bid and Spurs struggled at times.
Xavi Simons had to be substituted before he was sent off, Micky van de Ven gambled with the mood of the entire evening by bundling over Georges Mikautadze after Villarreal broke through from the second ball from a throw-in, and the biggest cheer was reserved for Richarlison haring down a short goal kick to concede another short goal kick.
At least he started and probably won’t end up publicly calling this season sh*t.
And really for Spurs this was fine. Another win and clean sheet represents definitive progress. The improvements Frank must make beyond that were as clear and obvious as the mistakes in this most curious refereeing performance and the players will be under no illusions that this fell short of the usual required level.
But the magnitude of the occasion and the idiosyncrasies of the tournament format mean that, for their second successive non-Super Cup European game, the result legitimately outweighed the performance in terms of importance for Spurs. Worra trophy.
