David Hytner’s match report
Full-time: Spurs 3-0 Fiorentina (agg: 4-1)
Tottenham are into the last 16 of the Europa League and no one will relish meeting them there, even though Alli will be suspended for the first leg. This was not their most glittering performance of the season but they worked as maniacally as ever and showed more quality when it counted. A deserved victory and another encouraging step towards GLORY.
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87 min: Boom! Chaldi lifts an intelligent pass to Mason at the edge of the area, and the midfielder unleashes an exquisite volley. It would have been a wonderful goal if not for the meddling goalkeeper, Tatarunsanu.
84 min: Alli gets a well-earned ovation as he walks off to be replaced by Bentaleb.
GOAL! Spurs 3-0 Fiorentina (agg: 4-1) (Rodriguez og 81)
The Fiorentina captain slides it to try to prevent a splendid Tripper cross from reaching Alli at the back post, but he succeeds only in poking the ball on to the underside of the crossbar and into the net!
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78 min: Well, this could prove costly: Alli is booked, apparently for simulation - and wrongly if that was the referee’s reasoning. He clearly got a shove from the defender before falling. The yellow card means he will be suspended for the first leg of the next round. And on that subject, who would you fancy meeting, Spurs fans? How about Gary Neville’s Valencia?
77 min: Lloris, ever vigilant, charges off his line to intercept a through-ball. The slide carries him out of his area but he releases the ball before exiting so as not to be done for handball.
75 min: Spurs substitution: Lamela off, Onomah on.
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73 min: More dinky play by Alli, who feint and lopes past Gonzalo on the left before entering the box. He’s a class act and no mistake, even if his final ball on this occasion comes to nought.
70 min: Zarate twists and turns in the Tottenham box, enticing Alderweireld into a wild lunge. The forward then opens fire from a similar position to where Mason scored from, but Wimmer blocks well.
66 min: All the old songs are coming out now around a jubilant White Hart Lane. When the Spurs Go Marching In, Snooker Loopy, A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square, the whole shebang. “Lamela’s goal doesn’t change anything of course,” parps Gary Beale. “Two goals from the visitors needed before and after he scored.” Are you, as they say, having a laugh? Tell me, what happens now if Fiorentina score only once in the 90 minutes, compared to what would have happened if Lamela had not scored?
GOAL! Spurs 2-0 Fiorentina (agg: 3-1) (Lamela 62')
That should seal it for Spurs! Eriksen pounced on a breaking ball mid-way inside the Italian half and fed it to Chadli. The Belgian let fly from the left. Tatarunsanu bats it away. Alli and a defender go for the rebound and the ball squirts out to Lamela, who swivels and sweeps it first-time into the net from nine yards!
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61 min: Alonso and Trippier have had a right good duel all night, each stretching the other with bursts down the flanks. Alonso will have to be even more vigilant for the rest of the game, though, because he’s just been booked for stopping Trippier’s latest break with a sly clip of the ankles.
58 min: Fiorentina win possession in midfield and launch an attach with Spurs disorganised. Bernarderschi leads it, reaches the edge of the area, sizes up Davies, sees Kalinic in a great position near the penalty spot ... and, yes, tries to score by himself. High and wide it flies, bringing jeers from the home crowd. And swear words from his team-mates, most probably.
56 min: Good decision by Bernarderschi! Well executed, to boot! A nice pass between Alderweireld and Davies presented Valero with a chance to send the ball across the face of goal to a lurking team-mate. But two sound decisions in the box in succession seems beyond Fiorentina at the moment, and Valero tries to score an improbable goal himself from a difficult angle. Easy save for Lloris.
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55 min: Alli collects the ball in that hole between midfield and centre-forward, then has a pop from 20 yards. Deflected out for a corner.
53 min: Fiorentina have put together some nimble moves already in this half but they continually undo good work with bad decisions at the end. Bernardeschi has been particularly guilty. For the second time in a few minutes he has tried an absurd shot when passing to other would have been more in the team’s interest.
50 min: A cross fro Eriksen is deflected behind for a corner. The Dane takes it short to Lamela, who tries to feint his way past a defender before crossing but instead loses possession. Suddenly Fiorentina have a promising counter-attack - but, to Paulo Sousa’s visible fury, they botch the last pass and grant Tottenham a reprieve.
48 min: Kalinic slips a nice ball through to Bernardeschi, who twists and turns in the box but then ignores better placed team-mates and has a shot from an impossible angle. With predictable consequences.
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46 min: Off we go again. Sixteen seconds later Alli cops a blow from Vecino. They’ve sure been intent on giving the youngster special attention tonight and sometimes it has verged on the sinister: but on this occasion Vecino seemed to tread on his toe accidentally. It won’t take Alli long to run the pain off.
Half-time: Spurs 1-0 Fiorentina (Agg: 2-1)
Spurs are in the driving seat but they still have totally shaken their habit of conceding late goal equalisers, and Fiorentina tend to perform much better in second periods, for some reason, so this tie is far from over. Fix yourselves a stiff drink or five and get ready for a thrilling denouement, not to mention a decent second half of football.
45 min: Tomovic booked for putting his forehead in the face of Davies to express his displeasure with a vigorous - but not especially violent - challenge from the Welshman. Bit of an over-reaction from Tomovic there It’s not as if he was, oh I don’t know, deliberately booted on the back by a Spurs player.
42 min: Lloris hares off his line to punch the corner away. Fiorentina regain possession quickly and resume probing. Until Bernardschi sends an attempt pass awry, finding a pitchside billboard rather than a team-mate. That’s no advertisement for his talent.
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41 min: Fiorentina have found a second wind and are forcing Spurs to backpeddle. Alonso forces Trippier to concede a corner.
38 min: Now here’s a chance for the visitors. After a trip by Trippier - who gets a yellow card as a result - the Italians can clip a freekick from the left into the box. And Ilicic does exactly that. Valero gets to it in front of the near post but is never likely to score from such an acute angle. A decent header flies into the sidenetting.
36 min: Brilliant, incisive move by Spurs, who cut throught FIorentina with a series of one-touch passes. But their precision lapsed just at the end, allowing Fiorentina to clear.
33 min: Spurs are looking supremely comfortable now. The goal has buoyed them and deflated Fiorentina, who’ll need to pump themselves up again if they’re to get back into this. They’ve got the time, at least.
30 min: In other news, Manchester United are trailing 1-0 (3-1 on aggregate) to Midtjylland, who are clearly the team to avoid in the next round ...
28 min: Nonsensical decision by the referee! Chadli went down in the opposing box, having had his shirt pulled as he sought to get into position to receive a cross from Trippier. But rather than award a penalty, the ref signals for a free out.
GOAL! Spurs 1-0 Fiorentina (agg: 2-1)
A composed, almsot Thierry Henry-esque finish from the young midfielder, who was sent running into the left-hand side of the box by a clever and courageous pass from Alli, who poked it into his team-mate’s path despite a desperate lunge by Astori.
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22 min: After zippy interplay in midfield, Fiorentina sweep the ball wide to the right, where Ilicic collects it. He carries it in-field, to within five yards of the box, and then tries to send a low curler into the far corner. But his calculations are a little off and the ball goes wide.
19 min: Dainty work by Alli! He eluded two opponents before trying to sneak a crafty pass through to Lamela. But it was ever so slightly too heavy and the quick-witted keeper hurtled off his line to get to the ball first.
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18 min: Tottenham have yet to find their groove. But they’ll be encouraged by their latest move, in which Lamela found Mason, who slipped the ball through to Eriksen to fire off the home team’s first shot on target. Eriksen caught it well but his 20-yard effort is caught comfortably by Tatarunsanu.
15 min: Wimmer booked for a late tackle on Ilicic. The victim gets up to take the freekick, which is at least 36 yards from goal. Bang! A pea-roller hits the target, at least, but not with enough power to bother Lloris.
11 min: It’s a pleasingly taut contest so far. Fiorentina, needing an away goal of course, have made a brighter start than they did in the first leg and have generally looked the more threatening side so far, even if Lloris has yet to be disturbed.
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9 min: A splendid cross-field pass by Alderweireld finds Alli, whose first touch is not good enough to prevent the ball from running out of play. But the linesman must have blinked because he failed to spot that and allows Alli to take a second touch and eventually win a corner. The setpiece is delivered by Eriksen and met by Dier, whose glancing header goes about two yards past the far post.
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7 min: Trippier gets on the front and delivers a dangerous-looking cross. Alonso jumps and blocks it .... with both arms! But the arms were on the blind side of the ref, who apparently thought the ball struck the player’s chest. No penalty for Spurs.
5 min: Fiorentina will be pleased with their start, Tomovic’s jitters notwithstanding. They’re well organised and have kept Spurs well away from their goal, while hinting at an offensive threat themselves, especially down the left wing, where Trippier has already found himself outnumbered a couple o times.
3 min: Both sides feeling each other out, as the saying goes. But Tomovic is looking edgy - he’s just committed a foul throw-in. Meeting Dele Alli again after last week’s boot in the back has him rattled, perhaps.
1 min: Fiorentina get the ball rolling. On their bench, by the way, are two goalkeepers because they don’t have enough outfield players to make up a full squad. One of the keepers, Giacomo Satalino, is 16 years old.
On the day that Tottenham were given official approval for a new, 61,000-seat stadium, there’s a buoyant atmosphere at dear old White Hart Lane, with a large section of scarf-twirling Fiorentina fans adding to the heady mix. The stage is beautifully set. Now all the players have to do is perform. Action ahoy!
After revealing that Dembélé’s injury is “very small” and the Belgian could be back in action next week, Pochettino tees up tonight’s game nicely: “They have put in another defensive midfielder so maybe they will be more defensive than last week but we will try to play the same. It’s like a final today.”
TEAMS:
Spurs are without the injured Mousa Dembélé and Harry Kane so will send out the same starting 11 as in the first leg, other than replacing Michiel Vorm with Hugo Loris. But their bench will be significantly weaker.
Spurs: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Wimmer, Davies; Mason, Dier; Eriksen, Alli, Lamela; Chadli
Subs: Vorm, Rose, Bentaleb, Son, Onomah, Winks, Carter-Vickers
Fiorentina: Tatarusanu, Rodriguez, Tomovic, Astori, Alonso; Badelj, Vecino, Borja; Bernardeschi, Kalinic, Ilicic
Subs: Lezzerini, Zarate, Fernandez, Błaszczykowski, Pasqual, Babacar, Satalino
Referee: O Hajtegan (Rom)
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Preamble:
Hello and welcome to coverage of this crunch Europa League clash. Be assured that you won’t find any jabbering here about Spurs not needing this tournament to qualify for next season’s Champions League, or what the result could mean for England’s Uefa Coefficient. Because all we’ll be concentrating on is two fine teams’ attempt to win this fine competition this season. The here, the now and the noble pursuit of a big shiny trophy. As Danny Blanchflower might have said: “The game is about glory. It’s about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not counting money or statistics and dying of boredom.”
The good news is that these Spurs and Fiorentina sides are all about winning, which is why the first leg of this tie was so hard-fought and entertaining and, yes, ended in a 1-1 draw, though Spurs should probably have come home with a lead, given how many chances they created. There promises to be even more hijinks tonight because Spurs have fairly sparkled in all their home games in the competition so far this season and Fiorentina are a nifty counter-attacking team who certainly have the ability to triumph at White Hart Lane. If you like reading things into coincidences, you might already be divining conclusions from the fact that these teams met at this exact same stage of the competition last season – and after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Fiorentina won 2-0. But that second leg was in Italy, and that was a far weaker Spurs team, and one who had not yet drunk their fill of Mauricio Pochettino’s battle potion.
Pochettino, for all the progress he has brought to his teams as a manager, has not yet won a trophy as a gaffer. And most of this Spurs team have yet to add medals to the plaudits they’ve gained in their young careers so far. What is more, Tottenham have been waiting a long time to add to their collection of major European trophies, the last one dating back to a previous incarnation of this very competition, in 1984. Tony Parks and all that. Fiorentina, meanwhile, have only one European trophy to their name and they picked that up 55 years ago, to the dismay of Rangers.
So although both these teams remain very much in contention for their domestic titles - Spurs being second in the Premier League and Fiorentina third in Serie A - neither is using that as an excuse to fail in Europe. Hats off to them. Let an honourable battle commence!
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