Bayern Munich 2-1 Tottenham: Pedro Porro strike not enough as Spurs fall to first pre-season loss

Tottenham suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat in the first instalment of their pre-season friendly double-header against Bayern Munich despite a fine strike from Pedro Porro.

The Portuguese right-back blasted home a brilliant effort from outside the box to halve the deficit at a sold-out Seoul World Cup Stadium on Saturday, but it was not enough to spark a late Spurs comeback as Vincent Kompany’s Bayern – without former Tottenham talisman Harry Kane in South Korea due to the England captain’s post-Euro 2024 break – held on during an end-to-end finish to claim a valuable victory courtesy of goals from Gabriel Vidovic and Leon Goretzka.

The two sides are due to meet again at the Tottenham Hotspur next Saturday (August 10) in the Visit Malta Cup in north London, with Kane still expected to be absent after the Three Lions’ run to the final in Germany.

Saturday marked the first defeat of Spurs’ otherwise impressive pre-season campaign, which saw a K-League XI beaten in a seven-goal thriller at the same venue in midweek after victories on home soil over Hearts and QPR were followed by a win over reigning J1 League champions Vissel Kobe in Japan.

For Bayern, their first real test under new boss Kompany was passed after a 14-1 hammering of Rottach-Egern was followed by a disappointing draw against FC Duren.

Bayern set the tone for a dominant first half in a lively start to proceedings, the pace and guile of young French forward Mathys Tel causing plenty of early issues for the Spurs defence that saw Radu Dragusin partner Ben Davies at centre-back in place of Emerson Royal and Djed Spence at left-back with the likes of Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie all still absent.

Former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry blazed over at the back post as the Germans piled on the early pressure, getting their reward inside five minutes when Gnabry seized on a horror mix-up between Guglielmo Vicario and Djed Spence inside the Tottenham box before being denied and 20-year-old forward Gabriel Vidovic slotting home at the second attempt.

Despite the searing heat and evening humidity in the South Korean capital, and being at a much earlier stage of their pre-season preparations, Bayern pressed and played at a real intensity, producing plenty of eye-catching football after a brief Spurs rally that saw Dejan Kulusevski’s shot blocked behind by Josip Stanisic.

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