Tottenham battle into Round of 32 with hard-fought win against Partizan
LONDON --
Tottenham won and so qualified for the last 32 of the Europa League after defeating Partizan 1-0 on Thursday night.
Another Tottenham player scored his first goal for the club. Roberto Soldado missed a lot of chances. So far so normal, but this was a far from mundane night at White Hart Lane as three separate pitch invasions, seemingly part of a marketing stunt, caused the referee to suspend play for almost 10 minutes. UEFA is almost certain to take action against Tottenham and there could be further consequences when the motives of the invaders are unravelled.
Twenty minutes of largely uneventful play had gone when a heavily built man in a white shirt and grey coat wandered on, unchallenged by any steward, walked up to Kyle Naughton and took a selfie. Perhaps realizing that he hadn't picked the most glamorous subject, he then took another with Jan Vertonghen. Only then did a solitary steward react, but the fan evaded him easily enough to the cheers of most of the ground, glad presumably of having some entertainment. Eventually, as about a dozen stewards were finally mustered, his chubby strivings were arrested.
The invader's girth and the fact that he was armed with nothing more dangerous than a smartphone meant the whole incident could be laughed off, but this was embarrassing for Tottenham in terms of security, and it became even more so when another fan ran on. This one was slimmer and wearing the same white shirt bearing the name of Bass Buds, the company that makes Tottenham's official headphones. He ran up to Roberto Soldado, who grabbed at him and ended up pulling the shirt off. This time the stewards apprehended the invader much more quickly.
When a third invader jogged on -- from a third different part of the ground -- in the same shirt four minutes before halftime, the novelty had worn off and he was booed, before being felled by the extended arm of Mousa Dembele, probably his most efficient tackle since his Fulham days. At that the referee took the players off. They came back to finish the half about ten minutes later amid an air of general sheepishness.
The stewarding was pathetic, and if this really was, as it appeared to be, a marketing stunt (a Tweet from the Bass Buds account suggested a prank was planned on Thursday in conjunction with Troll Station, an "online comedy channel" specializing in "hidden camera pranks, sketches and parodies" that sets out to be "intentionally provocative & controversial with the aim to offend", it was in the worst possible taste. Since the fences came down after the Hillsborough disaster, there has been an acceptance in English football that the pitch is protected by a fourth wall, the breaking of which can have the most severe consequences.
There were also at least two attempts to unfurl Albanian flags, presumably to direct a message at followers of Partizan and those watching on television in Serbia, but those were rapidly dealt with by stewards.
By comparison, the football was relatively tame. Erik Lamela seems to enjoy Europa League games more than anyone. It might not be the biggest stage but it's one on which he thrives. After his Rabona goal against Asteras Tripoli in Spurs' last Europa League home game, he played an ostentatious no-look pass to Soldado in the second minute. As he tends to, though, the Spaniard dragged his shot wide. Soldado's has not been a happy camper at White Hart Lane, and he couldn't quite get on the end on a Lamela cross after 20 minutes.
He was, though, instrumental -- albeit in a very Soldado-ish way -- in the opening goal, four minutes into the second half. Benjamin Stambouli laid him through and he clipped a shot over Milan Lukac. It looked a finish of some quality, but the ball bounced back off the post to Stambouli, who slammed in the rebound.
From then on until he was substituted after 65 minutes, the game felt like an art installation entitled "Ways for Soldado Not to Score." He had a fierce shot from 20 yards tipped wide by Lukac. Played through by a clever chop from Aaron Lennon he had a shot smothered by the goalkeeper. He did get the ball in the net after 59 minutes, but only after his initial shot had flown wide and bounced back to him off the advertising hoardings behind the goal.
Darko Lazovic put one first-half lob narrowly wide and it took a superb save from Hugo Lloris to keep out a later Vladimir Volkov header, but Tottenham could have won this far more comfortably but for some fine goalkeeping from Lukac. They go through, and will contest top spot with Besiktas, who are two points back, in Istanbul on Dec. 11. The night, though, won't be remembered for that.