Mateus Fernandes marked his Tottenham debut with a stunning early goal as Roberto De Zerbi’s side opened pre-season with a 1-0 win over Milton Keynes Dons. The behind-closed-doors friendly at Hotspur Way was settled inside three minutes.
It was Roberto De Zerbi’s first match in charge since arriving this summer.
His side entered pre-season off a difficult campaign that saw them finish 17th in the Premier League, facing a Milton Keynes Dons outfit newly promoted to League One under Paul Warne.
Tottenham broke through in the third minute from a set-piece that was not delivered cleanly.
Mathys Tel’s corner was punched clear by the MK Dons goalkeeper, only for Mateus Fernandes to meet it on the edge of the box with a spectacular right-footed volley into the top corner.
The strike gave an immediate glimpse of why Tottenham paid £85m to sign Fernandes from West Ham.
Fellow midfielder Sandro Tonali, who joined for up to £100m from Newcastle, also started on his debut while goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka came off the bench in the second half.
De Zerbi made sweeping changes at the interval, introducing ten fresh faces. Academy midfielder Rio Kyerematen was the only player to remain on the pitch after the break as Tottenham rotated their experimental line-up.
The second half produced chances but no further goals that counted.
Richarlison saw a finish ruled out for offside before MK Dons thought they had equalised around the 70th minute, only for their effort to be disallowed for a foul on Dúbravka.
Fernandes said his spectacular opener was his favourite of his career so far. He said: “It was great, no? It was my favourite goal of my career by a mile. The second one was last season.
I need to do this more, to shoot outside the box. I know I can do it.”
Fernandes added on playing under De Zerbi. He said: “Now I am playing for Tottenham, maybe the pressure can be even more, so I need to be better in many aspects…
I know Mr De Zerbi will improve me, improve the team, and now it is just us against the world.”
De Zerbi said he was encouraged by the start of his Tottenham project. He said: “I feel very good because we are working well.
I think we are building a very good team, with some very important new players, and we starting the project in another part of the history of the club.”
For MK Dons, captain Alex Gilbey missed the game with a knee injury picked up in their previous friendly. Manager Paul Warne said: “He fell awkwardly after some contact in the box, and it looks like he’s damaged his knee.
It doesn’t look worst-case scenario and we’re hoping it won’t be too bad.”
Tottenham were without several senior internationals who featured at the World Cup, including Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro, Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi.
Dejan Kulusevski, Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert were also absent through injury as De Zerbi assessed a slimmed group.
The result gives Tottenham a low-key winning start before they head overseas. They face Auckland FC in New Zealand on July 26, before continuing their pre-season tour in Australia as De Zerbi’s rebuild gathers pace.
