Antonin Kinsky impresses on debut as Tottenham Hotspur down Liverpool in League Cup semi-final first leg | OneFootball

Barely three days after joining Tottenham Hotspur in a €16 million deal from Slavia Prague, Antonin Kinsky was named in the starting XI for Wednesday’s League Cup clash against Liverpool.

Having watched Arsenal fall to a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United in their semi-final tie 24 hours earlier, Spurs took on the challenge of high-flying Liverpool again just 17 days after a 6-3 league defeat.

Ange Postecoglou’s side should have opened the scoring after just six minutes when Radu Dragusin directed Heung-min Son’s effort towards goal, but Alisson was thwarted him.

However, that was to be the final piece of action for the next eight minutes, as Rodrigo Bentacur needed medical attention after going down moments earlier.

The Uruguayan was eventually replaced by Brennan Johnson in the 15th minute, and Spurs continued to dominate and came close to taking the lead through Dominic Solanke.

Having cut a peripheral figure across the opening exchanges, Mohamed Salah had his first crack at goal just past the midway point of the first half but dragged his effort wide of the far post.

Liverpool suffered an injury casualty of their own shortly afterwards, with Wataru Endo coming on for Jarell Quansah on the half-hour mark.

Spurs’ new boy Kinsky had his first test between the sticks in the 33rd minute courtesy of Alexis Mac Allister’s tame header from a Kostas Tsimikas delivery.

The goalkeeper was called into action by Cody Gakpo during first-half stoppage time, and Kinsky managed to gather the ball after initially fumbling what looked like a routine save.

While Kinsky saved most of his shot-stopping heroics for the second half, his solid distribution was already on display right from the first 45 minutes.

Spurs should have edged ahead 10 minutes into the second half when Pedro Porro failed to capitalise on Alisson’s loose distribution.

Sent on as a substitute as Liverpool intensified their search for a goal, Darwin Nunez was denied by Kinsky twice in a seven-minute span. The goalkeeper was showing why Tottenham splashed the cash on him.

However, Kinsky had Dragusin to thank for not conceding shortly afterwards when the defender cleared Trent Alexander-Arnold’s effort off the line with the game now stretched.

Solanke was on target for Spurs in December’s defeat to Liverpool, and he looked to have haunted his former employers once again in the 77th minute, only for his goal to be ruled out by VAR.

Less than two minutes after escaping a second yellow card for a rash tackle on Tsimikas, Bergvall made Stuart Atwell’s decision not to send him off a bigger talking point after he opened the scoring four minutes from time.

Aiming to level matters before next month’s return leg, Liverpool upped the ante in the final few minutes, but Nunez was denied once again by an inspired Kinsky in the 94th minute.

The debutant was named Man of the Match, and his arrival might galvanise Tottenham’s season off the back of a rough spell.

Spurs are next in action against National League side Tamworth in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday.