Spurs start their Europa League campaign at home to Austrian side Lask, in the first round of Group J. Jose Mourinho is looking to make it three wins from three for his Europa League campaigns, after previously winning the Uefa cup in 2002/03 with Porto and the Europa league 2016/17 with Manchester United.
Team News
Mourinho makes a number of changes to the side from the collapse to West Ham at the weekend. Summer signing Gareth Bale makes his second full debut for the North London side, after coming on at the weekend. Brazilian striker Carlos Vinicius makes his debut for the club, after signing on loan from Benfica. Ben Davies captains the side, as he comes back into the team at centre back, due to injuries to Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga.
Lask come into the game, with a solid start to the season, having taken 7 points from their first 4 league games, leaving them in 5th place in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. Top scorer Marko Raguz leads the line for the Austrian side and defender Gernot Trauner captains the side.
3′ Spurs Corner
Harry Winks spreads the ball out to Matt Doherty, who drives aggressively at the Lask defence, before cutting the ball back to fellow full back Sergio Reguilon; whose shot is blocked and goes out for an early Spurs corner. Lask are forced in to an early change, as James Holland trudges off injured and is replaced by Lukas Grgic.
7′ Spurs corner
Bale uses his searing pace and breaks away down the right and seems to be in behind the Lask full back, but the defender does well to get back in and knock the ball out for a corner
9′ Chance!
Doherty, who is virtually playing as a winger, is played in behind and whips the ball across the box, straight on to the debutant Vinicius’ head, who misses a glorious chance to open his Spurs account.
14′ Sloppy Spurs
Spurs not quite finding their rythm yet and some sloppy passes in midfield give Lask the chance to break. The Austrian get in behind the panicked sanchez, but a tame shot straight at Joe Hart ends their attack.
18′ Goal!!!! Lucas Moura!!!
The two Brazilian forwards combine to put Spurs ahead in this group game. Vinicius runs on to a lofted ball over the top of the Lask defence and plays a delicate reverse pass, straight into the path of the onrushing Moura, who slots the ball past the keeper, to open the scoring.
23′ Chance!
Bale drifts in a dangerous free kick from the right hand side and the ball almost drops perfectly on to Davinson Sanchez’ head, but it is just too high for the colombian and Lask manage to clear the ball.
27′ GOAL!!! TWO FOR SPURS! Own-Goal!
Tottenham break quickly up the pitch, with Reguilon driving at the Lask defence, before playing the ball across to Erik Lamela, who slid in Bale, who’s outside of the foot driven cross richochet off Andres Andrade into the back of the net to make it 2-0. Bale can’t quite claim that one!
28′ Spurs Chance!
Straight from kick-off Lamela wins the ball back and plays in Vinicius, who repays the favour by laying the ball straight into the path of the Argentian, whose strike is too weak and after a scramble, is gathered by Alexander Schlager. The Brazilian is certainly impressing on his debut.
32′ Lask Corner!
Lask get their first corner of the game, after a rare attack in Spurs’ half, but the cross is easily cleared. However, Reguilon commits a foul trying to win the ball back, but the resulting curled free-kick is easily cleared.
37′ Lucky escape for Winks!
Harry Winks commits yet another foul in midfield and is extremely lucky to escape without a booking. The number 8 slides in aggressively and completely misses the ball and clatters into the Lask midfielder.
39′ Substitution
Lask are forced into another first half change, due to injury. Rene Renner is replaced by Petar Filipovic, after he never really looked like he recovered from an earlier nasty clash of heads with Pierre-Emile Hoijberg, who has been dazzling the Lask midfielders with some brilliant pirouettes.
45′ Lask chance!
Lask get their first proper chance of the night, as they break down the right wing and put a deep cross into the box, fell to a Grgic, whose shot was blocked. Straight after, Andreas Gruber cut inside from the right wing and struck a fierce shot towards the top corner, but Hart was equal to it and tipped the ball round the post.
45+2′ Lask Yellow!
Peter Michorl is put into the book for a dangerous late challenge on Vinicius; the austrian slid in late on the forward and was deservedly booked for the challenge
HALF TIME
Spurs go into the break with a deserved 2 goal advantage over their group J opponents. Debutant Vinicius impressed with some brilliant link-up play, to set up fellow countryman Moura, who opened the scoring. Bale’s cross was turned into his own net by Andrade, to double Spurs’ lead. Although, Lask ended the half well, with Gruber forcing Hart into a good save, with a fierce shot from distance. Mourinho will be a happy man if the second half continues in a similar fashion.
46′ Second half begins!
Lask are making full use of the extra substitutions allowed in this years competition to try and get back into this game, making a further two substitutions, taking them to 4 by the start of the second half. Potzmann replaces Andrade and Eggestein for Gruber
47′ Chance!
Great work from Vinicius, who wins the ball back from the Lask defender and plays the ball into the box to Lamela. The argentine jinxes past the defender and tries to curl the ball delicately into the far corner, but his shot rolls wide of the far post.
51′ Spurs Chance!
Lamela’s in-swinging corner is placed beautifully on to Sanchez’ head, but the defender misjudges the header and the ball loops over the bar for a goal kick.
53′ Lask penalty shout!
Lask shouts for a penalty are waved away by the referee, after Sanchez nudged Gernot Trauner in the area. The resulting corner leads to a chance Grgic, but his shot dribbles into Hart’s arms.
58′ Spurs chance!
Spurs counter and Lamela lofts the ball over the top of the Lask defence for Bale to run on to, but Schager rushes out and clears the ball into the empty stands.
61′ Triple Spurs substitution
Moussa Sissoko, Heung-Min Son and Dele replace Bale, Hoijberg and Lamela just after the hour mark. A solid performance from Bale, who set up the second goal and the 60 minutes in his legs will have done him the world of good. Lamela and Hoijberg barely put a foot wrong all night.
64′ Lask Chance!
More set piece trouble for Spurs! The ball is whipped in to the near post from the corner and Filipovic nips in ahead of the Spurs defence, but his header flies just over the crossbar.
69′ Disallowed goal!
Moura charges at the Lask defence, weaving his way round the defenders, before slotting the substitute Son in on goal, who finishes past Schlager. However, the linesman’s flag is raised and the goal won’t stand.
73′ Spurs Chance!
Moura yet again causes havoc in the Lask defence! After a mazy run, the winger whips the ball across the box towards Vinicius, who lays the ball back to Dele, who flicks the ball on to Son, but the South-Korean can’t quite find enough space and his shot is deflected over the bar.
75′ Spurs chance!
Dele is played in behind, after the Lask defence fail to play the forward offside. However, Spurs number 20 can’t convert from close range and Schlager clears the ball at the second attempt. Dele should have really scored there.
78′ Spurs substitution!
The returning Giovani Lo Celso replaces his fellow South-American Lucas. An excellent performance from the Brazilian winger, who’s powerful runs at the Lask defence caused problems all night and his first half tidy finish started the scoring for the home side. Thomas Goginger replaces Husein Basic for the away side, who are still fighting to get something from the game, despite being second best for large parts of the game.
83′ Spurs chance!
Some brilliant play from Lo celso sets Dele away down the right wing and the Spurs forwards are cueing up in the box for a cross, but Dele hits the ball straight at the keeper and the rebound falls just wide of Vinicius and Lask clear.
84′ GOAL!!! 3-0 SPURS!!
Spurs make it 3! The game looks all but dead and buried now, with the South-Korean forward slotting past Schlager. Doherty chipped the ball into the Lask box and the debutant Vinicius delightfully nodded the ball into Son’s path, who made no mistake with the finish. Another goal to Son’s tally; he is flying this season.
Embed from Getty Images86′ Substitution for Spurs
Vinicius is replaced, after a brilliant debut; he picked up two assists for his hard work and could have easily scored his first Spurs goal. Jack Clarke replaces the forward, to make his Europa league debut.
Embed from Getty Images90+1′ Spurs Chance!
The ball falls kindly to Clarke at the back post and the youngster cuts inside on to his right foot and curls the ball towards the goal, but the ball flies wide of the post and he spurns a great chance for his first Spurs goal.
FULL TIME! Spurs 3-0 Lask
Spurs start the Europa league group stages with a comprehensive win over Lask. Goals from Moura, Son and an Andrade own goal gave the home side all three points. A great debut for Vinicius, who set up two goals on the night and another 60 minutes in the legs of Bale, to help build his fitness. Everything went to plan tonight for Mourinho and Harry Kane was provided a much need rest on the bench. A first clean sheet since a 3-0 win over Leicester in July 2020 caps off a solid performance from the North-London side.
