Lamela salutes 'extraordinary' Higuain display against Tottenham
Tottenham will be favourites to progress against Juventus after a 2-2 draw in Turin, but Erik Lamela is still worried about Gonzalo Higuain.
Gonzalo Higuain produced an "extraordinary" display against Tottenham in the Champions League and they will need to improve defensively against him in the second leg, according to Erik Lamela.
Juve got off to a wonderful start on Tuesday and found themselves 2-0 up by the ninth minute – Higuain getting both goals.
His first was a particularly brilliant finish, as he latched on to Miralem Pjanic's free-kick delivery and produced a volley on the turn, finding the bottom-left corner – though he did appear to be just offside.
And the Argentina international doubled his tally from the penalty spot after Ben Davies had clumsily upended Federico Bernardeschi.
But Harry Kane pulled one back and Higuain smashed a second penalty on to the crossbar just before the break, allowing Spurs to capitalise and secure a 2-2 draw in the second half thanks to Christian Eriksen's free-kick.
Mal comienzo pero orgulloso de la actitud del equipo y para conseguir el empate Se define en Wembley. Vamos!Bad start but proud of this team’s attitude to turn it around! It comes down to Wembley! February 13, 2018
Yet Lamela still thinks his compatriot enjoyed a fine individual performance.
"We all know el Pipita [Higuain]," Lamela told reporters. "I'm not sure if he was offside in the first goal.
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"Still, he had an extraordinary performance. Next time we have to be ready to stop him and the other strikers.
"If we improve in defence, we can step up to another level."