Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso has been hailed in the Spanish and French press following his performance for Villarreal in their win over Bayern Munich.
Unai Emery’s side beat the German giants 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final last night, a huge result that sent shockwaves across Europe.
It was secured courtesy of a near-flawless display by the Spanish side, who were more than worthy of the result and could have even improved on it.
While it was the likes of Arnaut Danjuma stealing the headlines with the goal, there were exceptional performances across the pitch, and Tottenham’s Lo Celso particularly stood out.
Marca name the Spurs loanee as the MVP of the game after he ‘overwhelmed’ Bayern with ‘an almost perfect game’ from minute one.
While there were few mistakes, he also dominated in terms of recoveries and passes and had a ‘zone of influence’ that Bayern simply could not breach.
UEFA awarded him the MVP, and that was ‘more than deserved’ according to the newspaper, who weren’t the only ones impressed.
Sport also praise Lo Celso, who give him a 9/10 rating and say his performance deserves a special mention because he was ‘tireless and accurate’ with his passing. He’s also given a three rating by AS, which is the highest on offer.
Then there’s L’Equipe as well, who rate Lo Celso 8/10 and say he was ‘omnipresent’ and ‘tormented’ Bayern throughout the game.
Likening him to a Swiss Army Knife, they say the Tottenham loanee ‘illuminated the match’, going as far as to say his left foot is as good as Luka Modric’s right.
Indeed, they believe he was let down by ‘clumsy’ teammates who should have taken advantage of the chances he created and given him at least a hat-trick of assists.
That never happened, but it’s a minor low point on what was a fantastic evening for Villarreal and particularly Lo Celso, who is putting in the kind of performances that Tottenham hoped they would be getting when they paid £28.8m in July 2020.
