Tottenham Hotspur overcome FC Twente at White Hart Lane
Tottenham Hotspur survived a hard-fought Champions League-encounter with FC Twente to beat the Dutch champions 4–1 on Wednesday evening.
Harry Redknapp's side were awarded a total of three penalties in the game, two of which were converted by Roman Pavlyuchenko. Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale also got on the score sheet for the English
team.
White Hart Lane was buzzing from the first minute of the game, and perhaps it was no wonder, seeing as it was the first Champions League fixture to be played at the ground.
With 13 minutes gone, Bale, whose impeccable form has been on display throughout the current season, crossed towards Peter Crouch from the left, but the lanky striker failed to connect with the ball in
front of the Twente goal.
Van der Vaart then went close with a strike from the edge of the box before hitting a dangerous free kick towards Crouch at the far post. The next time the Dutchman crossed for Crouch, the striker was
fouled by Douglas Franco Teixeira. van der Vaart hit the resulting penalty high towards the left corner, but Marc Janko was equal to it, palming it away to keep his team on level terms.
Three minutes into the second half, Crouch turned provider for van der Vaart, whose quick control and shot inside the area proved too much for the snoozing Twente defence to handle for 1-0 lead. He could
finally celebrate his first European goal for the club.
Pavlyuchenko's penalty brace
Two minutes later, Bale's burst down the left of the area led to Roberto Rosales sticking his left out a little too far. This time, it was Pavlyuchenko who stepped up to take the penalty, and the Russian
made no mistake as he placed the ball to the left of Janko to make it 2-0.
Twente got a goal back in the 57th minute, when Nacer Chadli took advantage of a scramble in the penalty area to his the ball across Gomes and into the far corner. van der Vaart was then sent off for a
late and unecessary challenge on Theo Janssen as Twente's chances of levelling increased.
But Tottenham were helped by referee Terje Hauge, who awarded the team a third penalty kick when Pavlyuchenko's long-range effort struck the arm of Nicky Kuiper.
With the Twente players stunned, the Russian stepped up for the second time, nochalantly beating the wrong-footed Janko with a soft finish.
Bale then capped off a fine performance by pouncing on a loose ball and placing a low finish inside the left post.
The Londoners are now tied with Inter Milan on four points in Group A, while Twente share the same predicament with Werder Bremen after collecting one point from two games.
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