Sporting Lisbon condemned Tottenham to their first defeat of the season as Paulinho’s late goal inspired a shock 2-0 win in the Champions League on Tuesday.
WATCH: Spurs coach Conte came to honor the Queen
Antonio Conte’s side paid the price for sloppy finishing and two dismal defensive performances in stoppage time at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.
Richarlison, Harry Kane and Emerson Royal all failed to beat Sporting goalkeeper Antonio Adan and Son Heung-min’s goal drought reached eight games.
Tottenham were still on course for a point before the dramatic denouement when Paulinho headed home before Artur Gomez burst through the defense to seal Sporting’s second consecutive Group D victory.
It was Tottenham’s first defeat in eight games in all competitions, including a 2-0 win over Marseille in the Champions League opener last week.
Tottenham will still be hoping to qualify for the knockout stages, but this defeat adds to the pressure on them to avoid another slip-up in the remaining group games.
Last weekend’s Premier League game at Manchester City was postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week, with Tottenham looking rusty after returning to action.
After a moment of silence to pay tribute to the Queen, Sporting, who beat Eintracht Frankfurt in their opening game last week, wasted little time in setting the pace.
Sporting’s Marcus Edwards has been at Tottenham’s academy since the age of eight and earned comparisons to Lionel Messi from then-boss Mauricio Pochettino.
But north London-born Edwards made just one League Cup appearance in 2016 before being allowed to leave the club three years later.
The 23-year-old has bounced back from his move to Portugal, earning a move to Sporting in January this year.
Edwards, who scored for Frankfurt, was quick to remind Tottenham of what they had let go when he launched an early raid that ended with Pedro Gonçalves’ shot forcing a fine save from Hugo Lloris.
– Spurs with contusion –
Edwards was one of several ex-Premier League players in Sporting’s side and Trincao, most recently with Wolves, fired narrowly wide from the edge of the box.
Richarlison scored his first goals for Tottenham since his summer move from Everton in the win against Marseille and the Brazilian tested Adan with a header from Ivan Perisic’s cross.
Fueled by the chance to prove himself to Tottenham, Edwards carried Sporting’s main threat.
Edwards looked every inch a Messi clone as he unleashed a brilliant burst through the heart of Tottenham’s defense in the first half.
After a one-two with Trincao, Edwards was just six yards from goal with only Lloris to beat, but the Tottenham keeper made a good save.
Emerson squandered a good chance when he failed to beat Adan with a close-range shot after Kane’s clever free-kick early in the second half.
Tottenham began to heat up and Kane’s thunderous drive forced Adan into a fine save before Richarlison shot narrowly wide.
Kane was inches away from converting Perisic’s cross at the far post and Richarlison was out of reach with a header.
Son’s failure to score this season has led Conte to hint that he will not keep the South Korean in the starting line-up if the drought continues for much longer.
It was another disappointing day for Son, who was substituted in the 72nd minute after another blank.
Lloris looked to have saved Tottenham when he saved Pedro Poro’s shot in stoppage time.
But from a corner kick, Paulinho found himself in front of Kane and scored the decisive goal with his head.
Tottenham were rocked and Gomez came off the bench to mark his Champions League debut with a fine solo strike as he weaved his way through the defense and slotted past Lloris.
