Tottenham Hotspur 2 Gent 2 (Gent win 3-2 on aggregate)
It was a night that will be remembered for a shocking red-card tackle from Dele Alli, which forced Tottenham to play for 51 minutes with 10 men. Or how about the Harry Kane own goal that had previously transported them from a position of strength to one of vulnerability?
Then, there was the most stirring of fight-backs and when Victor Wanyama made the score 2-1 to Tottenham on the night, there appeared set to be only one winner from a rip-roaring Europa League last-32 tie. Wrong. It was Gent who found the knock-out punch on the counter-attack through the substitute, Jérémy Perbet – the goalscorer from the first-leg – and Tottenham were left with nothing more than regrets.
There was no other way to dress it up. A team of Tottenham's quality and ambition have to be able to dispose of opposition that sit eighth in the Belgian league and who entered this tie on a run of three wins in 12 matches in all competitions. It has often been said that this team and its manager, Mauricio Pochettino, need a trophy. It will not come in this competition.
He wanted an exorcism of sorts here. The starting line-up was as strong as he could have picked. There had been no trace of any lukewarm feelings towards the competition from Pochettino, which he has voiced in previous seasons.
There was a snap about Tottenham at the outset, with Victor Wanyama setting the tone with one crunching tackle, and the huge crowd, swelled by childrens’ tickets having been available for £5, got into the mood.
The opening goal was a disaster from Gent's point of view but it featured a bold touch from Christian Eriksen, which got the ball well out in front of him as he raced clean through, and an ice-cool finish. The midfielder had been confronted one-on-one by the goalkeeper, Lovre Kalinic, from an angle on the right, and he slipped a low shot through his legs.
The chance had originated in a simple punt forward up the inside-right channel but it opened up when Rami Gershon leapt for the header and missed it and, at the same time, Stefan Mitrovic came across and got himself on the wrong side of Eriksen.
Pochettino had gone back to a three-man defence, which he had used in the second-half in Ghent and with Kyle Walker making inroads up the right, there could be no doubt that Tottenham were in charge. Alli scuffed one shot wide and there was the sight of Jan Vertonghen storming into the penalty area only to see his pull-back cut out.
But the complexion of the tie changed sharply when Gent fashioned the equaliser on the night, from a corner. When it was delivered deep, the danger had not looked pronounced but Mitrovic climbed high to head back and when Moses Simon jumped for it, Kane got there first. Unfortunately for him, he succeeded only in flicking the ball towards his own net and, almost in slow motion, it looped home.
The Alli dismissal made it even harder for Tottenham and it was a senseless moment from the 20-year-old midfielder, one that advertised the shortness of his fuse. He was angry at losing the ball to Brecht Dejaegere and he took it all out on the Gent midfielder.
The studs on Alli's right boot flew over the ball and they slammed into Dejaegere, just below the knee. The Belgian's leg buckled horribly and there was reason to be thankful that he was not seriously injured. Alli looked stunned when the red card came out but it had been an easy decision for the referee, Manuel De Sousa.
Minutes earlier, Tottenham had lost their shape following another Gent corner and, when Kalifa Coulibaly headed back, the home team were indebted to Mousa Dembele for a toe-poke away from Dejaegere. Tottenham's descent from comfort to crisis was startling.
But the complexion of the tie changed sharply when Gent fashioned the equaliser on the night from a corner. When it was delivered deep, the danger had not looked pronounced but Mitrovic climbed high to head back and, when Moses Simon jumped for it, Kane got there first. Unfortunately for him, he succeeded only in flicking the ball towards his own net and, almost in slow motion, it looped home.
The Alli dismissal made it even harder for Tottenham and it was a senseless moment from the 20-year-old midfielder, one that advertised the shortness of his fuse. He was angry at himself for taking a heavy touch and losing the ball to Brecht Dejaegere and he took it all out on the Gent midfielder.
The studs on Alli’s right boot flew over the ball and they slammed into Dejaegere, just below the knee. The Belgian’s leg buckled horribly and there was reason to be thankful that he was not seriously injured. Alli looked stunned when the red card came out but it had been an easy decision for the referee, Manuel De Sousa.
Spurs created some moves before the sending off only to miss and it felt ominous that Kalinic started to waste time on his own goal-kicks at the end of the first-half. De Sousa took swift action and booked him but Gent’s intentions were plain. Even with 11 men, they intended to frustrate.
Tottenham continued to press hard on to the front foot and it was difficult to tell which team had the extra man. They needed two goals but they backed themselves to get them. Would their positivity yield reward? Eriksen had been denied by Kalinic, following Kane’s pass and Kane had dragged badly wide, having been teed up by Eriksen before Wanyama advertised the comeback. The goal followed another incision from the relentless Walker and a touch back from Eriksen that seemed to be intended for the wing-back. Instead, Wanyama stepped in and thumped a right-footed shot across Kalinic and into the far corner.
Pochettino repeatedly demanded more noise from his technical area and how it came. It was pulsating stuff. The manager went for broke, with Walker and Vertonghen pressed high up as full-backs and Heung-min Son on in support of Kane. Son shouted loudly for a penalty following a challenge from Samuel Gigot but he was ignored while, at the other end,Simon could have ended it with a free header on 73 minutes only to plant it into the side-netting. Perbet, though, did end it when he swept home after Coulibaly's cross had hit Eric Dier.
(Guardian service)
