WATCH: Tottenham Battles Back to Tie Juventus After Higuain's Dream Two-Goal Start
Juventus appeared destined for a rout of Tottenham, but Spurs showed their mettle in battling to a 2-2 draw in the opening leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen scored to cancel out two Gonzalo Higuain goals in the opening nine minutes, and an admirable Tottenham takes a small advantage back to Wembley Stadium for next month's second leg, via the away goal tiebreaker.
Juventus's defense had been essentially impenetrable recently, with the club keeping a clean sheet in 15 of its previous 16 matches in all competitions entering Tuesday's battle. That stat looked even more daunting when Higuain delivered a dream start for Juventus in the second minute, firing in a beautiful volley off a well-designed set piece delivered from Miralem Pjanic to give the hosts an early 1-0 lead.
Higuain doubled the advantage in the ninth minute, scoring from the penalty spot after Ben Davies was whistled for the foul. Hugo Lloris got a hand to Higuain's penalty, but not enough of it to keep it out.
Tottenham thought it might have had a way back a few minutes later, when Kane went down in the Juventus box, but no penalty was given despite Tottenham's shouts.
Kane had a more straightforward opportunity in the 26th minute, when his point-blank header was denied by Buffon by the near post.
Higuain missed a chance at a hat trick within the opening 30 minutes off the counterattack, putting his chance just wide of the post after being set up by Pjanic on the break.
Kane, who had another close-range chance pushed wide of the post by Buffon, finally broke through in the 35th minute. Dele Alli found him with a perfect ball, and Kane rounded Buffon before firing into an open net to get Spurs a precious away goal.
Higuain missed another golden opportunity to notch a first-half hat trick right before halftime. Serge Aurier tackled Douglas Costa in the box, gifting Juve another penalty in stoppage time, but Higuain blasted his chance off the crossbar, letting Spurs (and Aurier) off the hook and salvaging a 2-1 first half.
Juventus missed two great chances in the 57th and 58th minutes to re-establish its two-goal lead. Federico Bernardeschi had a close-range opportunity turned around the post by Lloris, and on the subsequent corner kick, Mandzukic got a free header, only to hit it right at the French goalkeeper.
Tottenham kept pushing for an equalizer and it came in the 71st minute off a free kick. Christian Eriksen laced a low ball by the Juventus wall and Buffon, hitting the back of the net with a precious second away goal.
The goal was enough to salvage the draw on a day when Tottenham controlled 62% of the possession.
Here were the lineups for the match:
The second leg of the series will take place at Wembley Stadium in London on March 7.
