Kane hits treble in big win over Maccabi Haifa - report and debrief

Harry Kane’s hat-trick helped us on our way to victory over Maccabi Haifa on a goal-laden Thursday evening at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The England striker hit his 12th treble in our colours and was joined on the scoresheet by a brace from Giovani Lo Celso and one each from Lucas Moura and Dele as we won this Europa League play-off to book our place in the draw for the group stage, which takes place on Friday.

In what was a thoroughly entertaining contest, just two minutes had passed when we opened the scoring with a well-worked goal, Steven Bergwijn and Ben Davies exchanging passes twice before the Welsh defender delivered a low cross that Kane tucked home from close range. Our Israeli visitors responded well and created a few chances before levelling things up on 17 minutes with a 25-yard screamer from former QPR man Tjaronn Chery.

Just three minutes later we were ahead again, Lucas finding space at the near post to glance Bergwijn’s corner past Josh Cohen before we struck twice in quick succession. In the 36th minute, Matt Doherty delivered a cross from the right and, although Lucas’ header was blocked by Bogdan Planic on the edge of the six yard box, the loose ball was knocked back to Lo Celso and he swept home left-footed from 15 yards. Three minutes later and it was 4-1, Lo Celso again on target, this time latching onto Kane’s pass after Planic’s mistake had set him free and the Argentine dinked the ball over the onrushing Cohen.

Early in the second period, the two sides exchanged successful penalty kicks. French referee Ruddy Buquet penalised Doherty for a harsh handball on 52 minutes and Australian international Nikita Rukavytsya made no mistake with the resulting spot-kick, and the same happened at the other end four minutes later. Davies’ cross hit the arm of Ernest Mabouka but even though his arm was across his body, the referee pointed to the spot and Kane drilled his penalty low down the middle.

Kane’s hat-trick goal in the 74th minute was an absolute beauty. It started when we broke up a Maccabi attack and substitute Dele set Bergwijn clear down the left. He cleverly beat his defender before advancing into the area and producing a neat pass to Kane, who clipped the ball over Cohen. The scoring was wrapped up in the 91st minute by Dele from the spot, the penalty awarded after he completely bamboozled Planic with a nutmeg before the defender brought him down and the England midfielder coolly slotted into the bottom right of Cohen’s goal for 7-2. Job well and truly done!

Chances galore on a crazy night!

Never mind the nine goals, there were a whole host of chances created by both teams throughout the game, which was played with such a tempo that there was barely any time to catch your breath! In total, there were 36 shots at goal with 19 of those on target and 13 of them by us. It meant the two goalkeepers were kept busy and both Joe Hart and Cohen made some fine saves.

Shortly after we’d taken the lead, Maccabi opened us up at the back and Chery had time to line up a shot which Hart did well to push away at full stretch. Lo Celso fired into the side-netting but at the other end it needed a well-timed tackle from Toby Alderweireld to prevent Rukavytsya from getting his shot away from inside the area before Mohammad Abu Fani was just wide from distance.

Hart was at full stretch to again to deny Chery’s attempted lob from a tight angle and, just moments after the visitors had pulled it back to 4-2 early in the second half, Abu Fani was denied by a superb diving save by Hart.

The chances kept coming. Bergwijn’s excellent first touch put him clean through on goal but he just couldn’t lift the ball high enough over Cohen to find the net and immediately, Haifa were on the attack at the other end and Rukavytsya’s neat volley beat Hart but the flag was up for offside.

In the 66th minute, magnificent skill on the edge of the area saw Lucas leave two defenders floundering and he then beat another one in the area but his final shot was well blocked and the Brazilian then hit a fierce drive from 20 yards which just cleared Cohen’s crossbar. The visitors’ keeper then produced a very good save to tip over Bergwijn’s shot and Hart was tested by Chery with five minutes remaining. The scoreline could have been anything!

Seventh heaven!

Our goals tally marked the first time we have ever scored seven goals in a one-off European fixture. And, in a quirky coincidence, this 7-2 scoreline came exactly one year to the day that we lost by that score against Bayern Munich in last season’s Champions League.

As mentioned, Kane’s hat-trick was his 12th for Spurs but he also became the first player in our history to score three trebles in Europe, following on from previous hat-tricks against APOEL and Asteras Tripolis. Kane has also scored three trebles for England.

Lo Celso scored two goals in three minutes against Maccabi Haifa, the same number of goals he scored in 37 appearances last season.

This was also the first time we have ever played an Israeli team in England. We have previously played nine matches in Israel – all friendlies apart from our UEFA Cup group stage match against Hapoel Tel Aviv in November, 2007, which we won 2-0.

For the second game running, Jose Mourinho made nine changes to his starting line-up as he manages the squad throughout this busy run of fixtures. Alderweireld and Bergwijn were the only players to keep their places from the team that beat Chelsea on penalties in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, while Dele returned to the squad and took a place on the bench before coming on and scoring our seventh goal.

'Clinical' performance, says Jose

Head Coach Jose said afterwards: "The game was a bit strange. Normally to score seven goals is impressive, but I don’t think the performance was impressive. It was clinical. We hurt them many, many times in transitions, they were adventurous, they risked a lot and tried to play the way they normally play every match in their league.

"I don’t think they feared us, and they were punished badly with seven goals. I don’t think it was a special performance from us but, again, job done. Apart from Lo Celso, who is now a question mark for Sunday, no more problems. So, yes, job done."

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Kane 2, 56 (pen), 74, Lucas 20, Lo Celso 36, 39, Dele 90+1 (pen); Maccabi Haifa – Chery 17, Rukavytsya 52 (pen).

Referee: Ruddy Buquet (France).

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Moderate breeze, 10 degrees.