Tottenham Striker Puts Barcelona to the Sword in NextGen Action

Andre Villas-Boas was reminded of the quality he has in the Tottenham academy as Shaquille Coulthirst hit a stunning hat-trick to hand the Under-19 side an impressive 4-1 victory over Barcelona in the NextGen series.

It was a bad night for Barcelona as their senior side was shocked by Celtic in the Champions League, but few would have expected Tottenham to travel to Spain and secure such an emphatic victory.

Barcelona had already secured a 2-0 win at White Hart Lane earlier this season and would have expected to once again assert their dominance over the north London side who drew 1-1 with Anderlecht in their last NextGen fixture.

However, it was Tottenham that secured an emphatic win thanks in no small part to the performances of Coulthirst and winger Alex Prtichard. The duo scored all four goals and continued their superb form in the competition.

Coulthirst was the man that orchestrated the win as he fired a perfect hat-trick that included two goals in just four minutes.

His hat-trick came on the hour mark as he thumped a header home, before Pritchard capped off an excellent display be grabbing a fourth.

Barcelona managed to find a late consolation when Cristian fired home with just two minutes remaining, but it was Tottenham that made the headlines and moved level on points with the Spanish giants.

Tottenham coach Alex Inglethorpe was quick to praise the display of the Under-19 side and reserved special mention to the performance of Pritchard.

"We were outstanding," Inglethorpe told the Tottenham website. "Barcelona bossed the first 20 minutes and I thought we were a little like a rabbit caught in the headlights, we froze, but the important thing is that we didn't give up during that spell.

"That goal changed the momentum in the game. It rocked them and at the same time, gave us belief and confidence and four minutes later, we scored the second goal from a similar situation, the ball was loose in the penalty area and Shaq fired home this time with his left foot.

"The fourth goal was a fantastic counter-attack down the right, slick play as Kenny McEvoy passed inside to Alex Pritchard and he danced around a couple of challenges and smashed home from about eight yards out.

"It was a classy goal from a player who impressed all night. The only blot on the copybook was conceding a goal two minutes from time.

"Overall, we were excellent. We were confident we could produce a performance here and the players have done it in style."