Key stats
- Micky van de Ven has struck six goals across all competitions for Tottenham in 2025/26, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Alex Grimaldo the only defender to net more for a top-five European side (seven).
- For the first time and during the 206th game of his career, Brennan Johnson has been sent off.
- Spurs have kept a clean sheet in three of their four games, only Arsenal (four) have done this more often in the UEFA Champions League.
Highlights
Analysis
Van de Ven completed 67/72 (93 per cent) of his passes and scored a stunning goal against Copenhagen.
Spurs recorded a much-needed confidence boost against Copenhagen, impressively dictating the game even more after going down to 10 men.
Match report
Winless so far in the UCL league phase, Copenhagen had two significant warnings in the opening 20 minutes, as Pantelis Hatzidiakos deflected a Xavi Simons shot wide, before Pedro Porro sent a dangerous-looking free kick narrowly over the bar.
But it was third time lucky for Tottenham soon after, when a dreadful giveaway from Gabriel Pereira’s failed pass in Spurs territory allowed Simons to steal possession.
He spotted Brennan Johnson’s perfectly-timed run and threaded the ball through to the Welsh international, who – despite being at a narrow angle just right of goal – was able to roll the ball nonchalantly into the far corner past the overcommitted Dominik Kotarski, for his first strike in eight matches.
Spurs perhaps should have capitalised on this more than they did, but instead allowed Copenhagen to regroup somewhat – ill-advised against a side that boasted 18 different goalscorers across the season ahead of kickoff.
But after Elias Achouri fired comfortably over the Spurs bar on a rare Copenhagen attack, Tottenham nearly scored a sensational second five minutes before HT.
Some incredible interplay between Wilson Odobert and Simons around the Copenhagen box saw them exchange four one-touch passes – including a defence-splitting flick into the box from the latter – but when Randal Kolo Muani got Xavi’s final ball misaligned with his feet, he could only fire wide at close range.
Thomas Frank’s men doubled five minutes after the interval, when a long ball down the right flank saw Muani charge through and force Kotarski into coming out again.
While the goalkeeper blocked Muani’s initial attempt to dink past him, the ball deflected wide for him to pull back to Odobert, who fired into the gaping net.
After Youssoufa Moukoko almost made it 2-1 as he curled an effort that was held well by Vicario, Spurs were reduced to 10 men, when Johnson’s cynical challenge on Marcos López’s ankle saw his initial yellow upgraded to a red.
There might have been some expectation of a real game, but instead, Spurs went into overdrive and scored twice in just a matter of minutes, with their third of the night being a goal of the season contender from Micky van de Ven, who stole the ball near his own box and charged downfield past no less than five opponents before powering into the net.
Copenhagen barely had time to take stock before it was 4-0, with Cristian Romero bursting through the middle and squaring for João Palhinha to power in.
Understandably, the tempo somewhat lulled, though there was still time for Richarlison to head against the bar, and then hit it from the penalty spot after Dane Scarlett was hauled down inside the box in injury time.
While it wasn’t the double-figures rout it could have been, Tottenham’s first four-goal haul under Frank is undoubtedly something to build on, even if the opposition was vastly inferior from the first whistle.
Copenhagen themselves looked like little more than cannon fodder, and could find themselves propping up the league phase table in 24 hours’ time, after failing to net for a 13th time in 14 away losses across all UEFA competitions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Xavi Simons (Tottenham Hotspur)
Post-match comments
Tottenham goalscorer Micky van de Ven to TNT Sports:
"That is for sure what we needed after a tough one at the weekend, we needed to bounce back and we did.
"I started dribbling and thought that I would see if they would catch up, and they didn't. I am feeling good, and I felt amazing in the sprint, I felt like I could keep going.
"When we got the red card I thought it was going to be tough but we stayed cool, we did what we needed to do and we killed the game off. Now we recover and focus on the game on Saturday."
Tottenham's Xavi Simons to TNT Sports:
"We are happy with the three points and happy with the performance."
"People want to perform and play good, I came in a new situation that has never happened to me before. I just have to keep working, I know my players have my back, so I will keep working hard.
"I am a guy who will never let my guard down and I will keep working and going forward."