Champions League: Young Boys Bern v Tottenham Hotspur full time report
Young Boys 3 Tottenham 2
Two away goals have given Tottenham Hotspur the chance to progress to the group stages of the Champions League, after a remarkable first leg of their playoff tie with Young Boys in Bern.
The hosts were 3-0 up inside half an hour against a shell-shocked Spurs, with first Senad Lulić arrowing home a left footed effort, before Henri Bienvenu outpaced Michael Dawson to make it two, and Xavier Hochstrasser smashed in a third when played in behind a static visiting defence.
Sébastien Bassong headed home a corner to reduce the arrears shortly before half time, and after an end to end second period full of chances for both sides, Roman Pavlyuchenko brilliantly found the top corner with just eight minutes to go for a potentially decisive second away goal.
The sides will meet again at White Hart Lane next Wednesday, with everything to play for.
Tottenham’s first match of top level European football for almost 50 years will live long in the memory, but things couldn’t have got off to a worse start for the English side.
Young Boys started well on top and, with Spurs looking nervous, Bosnian midfielder Lulić struck a low right footed effort from the edge of penalty area that cannoned back off the post.
Tottenham couldn’t get out of their own half, and they were soon to pay for it. Benoît Assou-Ekotto was booked for bringing down David Degen, and after the free kick was cleared, Thierry Doubai’s effort from the edge of the box ricocheted into the path of an unmarked Lulić off the back of team-mate Ammar Jemal, and the Bosnian fired a left footed shot into the corner of the net.
That got the Swiss fans rocking, but Spurs’ surprise starter Giovani dos Santos was soon wriggling into the box at the other end, only for goalkeeper Marco Wölfli – Young Boys’ captain – to save well at his feet.
That was only a brief respite for Spurs though, and they were soon to be undone again.
It was all too easy for Doubai to break from midfield, and after his through ball fed forward Bienvenu, the Cameroonian easily outpaced Michael Dawson – whose lack of pace was horribly exposed – before calmly stroking the ball beyond Heurelho Gomes and into the bottom corner. On a night when Spurs hoped to be welcomed into the Champions League, Bienvenu looked as though he’d pulled the mat from under them.
Jermain Defoe couldn’t quite connect with a Pavlyuchenko cross at the other end, but Spurs were looking shell-shocked, a fact underlined when Bassong headed a harmless cross straight out of his goalkeeper Gomes’ hands, and – quite unbelievably – worse was to come.
Yet more static Tottenham defending allowed Moreno Costanzo to run at their defence and play a simple through ball for Hochstrasser, who smashed home an almost improbable third for the hosts. The Stade de Suisse was alive now, with the pensive, forlorn image of Harry Redknapp on the sidelines offering a marked alternative to the jubilant Swiss fans behind him.
Jemal struck a free kick over, before Redknapp attempted to halt the slide by replacing the hapless Assou-Ekotto with Tom Huddlestone, initially overlooked for the starting line-up for the fear of what Young Boys’ plastic pitch would do to his long term knee injury. The surface – as good as any turf – was the least of Redknapp’s worries now though, and he’ll have been pleased to get to half time with score still ‘only’ 3-0, Thankfully for him, he was wrong.
Football has an odd way of helping individuals redeem themselves, and after Gareth Bale swung over a corner, Bassong – who up until now had been having a nightmare evening – got above his marker and thumped home a potentially vital away goal. Spurs dominated the remaining three minutes of the half, and would have been annoyed at hearing the half time whistle, but at least they now had a foothold in the game.
Niko Kranjčar replaced the ineffectual Luka Modrić at the break, and Huddlestone was soon driving in a cross that just evaded Defoe, before Bale’s brilliant delivery should have been buried by Pavlyuchenko.
Bienvenu headed narrowly over from Degen’s free kick, before, with Spurs caught going forward, Degen’s cross was smashed over by substitute Christian Schneuwly when well placed.
Back at the other end, Pavlyuchenko’s header was tipped over, before Young Boys broke again, and a sloppy Wilson Palacios pass almost played in Bienvenu, before Schneuwly again smashed over when he should have done better, and he was about to regret his misses.
The Russian Pavlyuchenko – who, like Bassong, had had a forgettable night – laid a ball off to Keane and, racing onto the return, the forward smashed an unstoppable right footed effort past Wölfli and into the top corner for Spurs’ second away goal of the night.
It could prove vital, and was a timely boost for Spurs after what had been at times a harrowing night.
They’ll be satisfied with the scoreline that they’ll take to White Hart Lane, but they’ll know that it could – and perhaps should – have been a whole lot worse against this particular group of Young Boys.
Spurs now have to be men in the second leg.
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