PARIS: Son Heung-min helped Tottenham gain some respite from their Premier League woes on Thursday with a double in a 3-2 Europa League win at Hoffenheim to put them on course for the knockout rounds.
Goals from Son and James Maddison lifted Spurs up to provisional fourth in the revamped league phase of European club football’s second-tier competition ahead of the night’s later games.
It also lifted some of the heat off manager Ange Postecoglou with his injury-ravaged team arriving in Germany after losing seven of their last Premier League games.
Postecoglou had pledged to win silverware for the first time for the London side since 2008 in his second season as boss.
With Spurs struggling in 15th behind Liverpool at home that leaves the Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup to fulfil his promise.
A win against Swedish outfit Elfsborg in their closing league phase game at home next week will give them an automatic ticket to the next round as one of the top eight finishers.
“I told them to enjoy it,” Postecoglou told TNT Sports.
“Winning away in Europe, it’s a significant victory for us and gives us a good foothold to get into those top eight spots which will give us a week off,” the Australian added.
They charged out of the stalls with Maddison receiving a pinpoint pass from Pedro Porro to fire the ball past keeper Oliver Baumann and into the roof of the net to give Spurs the perfect start after just four minutes.
Richarlison, making only his second start of the campaign, could have doubled the advantage but the Brazilian’s shot went straight to Baumann.
Attacking at will Spurs were looking to put the game to bed against their out of sorts German hosts.
And on 22 minutes Maddison turned provider to set up Son whose shot deflected off a defender, the ball flying over Baumann and into the far corner.
The big problem for Spurs given their leaky defense was to hold onto their superiority.
Brandon Austin started in goal for them, two weeks after making his debut, and was called on to make a full-stretched save to deny Tom Bischof as half-time beckoned.
VAR overturned a penalty decision to Hoffenheim after the hour when Austin collided into Max Moerstedt.
With the wind in their sails Hoffenheim halved their deficit minutes later when Spurs got caught on the counter, Anton Stach toeing the ball past Austin.
But Son’s angled shot with 13 minutes left on the clock settled the issue, although David Mokwa’s goal two minutes from normal time meant another nerve-jangling ending for Tottenham’s long-suffering supporters.
Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce drew 0-0 at third-placed Lyon to lift the Turkish side provisionally 19th and the door open to make the play-offs.
In the 2000 GMT kick-offs Manchester United host Rangers and table toppers Lazio play Real Sociedad.
Two Real Sociedad fans were taken to hospital after their group was apparently attacked by hardcore Lazio supporters ahead of the match at the Olympic stadium in Rome, the Spanish club said.
Son helps Spurs hold off Hoffenheim in Europa League
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Son helps Spurs hold off Hoffenheim in Europa League
- Goals from Son and James Maddison lifted Spurs up to provisional fourth
- It also lifted some of the heat off manager Ange Postecoglou with his injury-ravaged team
Liverpool without Salah beats Inter in Champions League. Barcelona and Bayern win
- Karl became the youngest player to score in three consecutive Champions League games
- Headers by Jules Koundé three minutes apart gave Barcelona a 2-1 comeback victory over Eintracht Frankfurt
After leaving Mohamed Salah in England, Liverpool got a much-needed boost with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Barcelona and Bayern Munich celebrated comeback wins and Chelsea lost.
With Salah out of the squad following his public criticism of the club last week, Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up instead to score the 88th-minute penalty which earned a 1-0 win over one of the competition’s best-performing teams.
It was all the more valuable for coming after a run of one win in six games in all competitions for Arne Slot’s under-pressure team, which moved up to eighth.
Liverpool’s players thought they had taken the lead with Ibrahima Konate’s header in the 31st minute but, after a video review that lasted more than four minutes, it was ruled out for handball as Virgil van Dijk had earlier nodded the ball on to the arm of Hugo Ekitike.
Having taken away a goal from Liverpool, VAR came to the visitors’ aid when it spotted that Alessandro Bastoni had tugged Florian Wirtz’s shirt in the area, with the midfielder flailing to the ground. Szoboszlai converted the penalty.
Bayern’s new star shines
Bayern’s 17-year-old midfielder Lennart Karl produced an audacious bit of skill to continue his high-scoring start to life in the Champions League in a 3-1 win over Sporting Lisbon earlier Tuesday.
Karl scored his third goal in four career Champions League games, controlling a pass from Konrad Laimer in mid-air before volleying a shot from a tight angle over two onrushing defenders and past the goalkeeper.
It was part of a 12-minute, three-goal turnaround for Bayern after Joshua Kimmich’s own-goal handed Sporting the lead after João Simões put Bayern under pressure on the counter.
Serge Gnabry leveled for Bayern when he was left unmarked at a corner in the 65th, before Karl scored Bayern’s second in the 69th and defender Jonathan Tah made it 3-1 in the 77th.
Widely viewed as German soccer’s best young talent this season, Karl became Bayern’s youngest-ever Champions League scorer in October on his first start in the competitions.
Late on, Alphonso Davies came off the bench for the Canadian left back’s first game since March after a serious knee injury.
Chelsea loses
Chelsea was beaten in the Champions League for the first time in nearly three months as Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere set up the equalizer and scored an 83rd-minute winner as Atalanta came from behind to win 2-1.
Chelsea, which went ahead through Joao Pedro, dropped out of the top eight automatic qualifying spots with its second loss.
It was a fourth win for Atalanta, which climbed to third and is the highest-placed Italian team.
Gianluca Scamacca made it 1-1 by heading home a cross from De Ketelaere, who then drove in a shot that Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez got a hand to but couldn’t keep out.
Koundé drives Barcelona comeback
Headers by Jules Koundé three minutes apart gave Barcelona a 2-1 comeback victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Marcus Rashford assisted in the first goal in the 50th and Lamine Yamal in the second in the 53rd.
The visitors had taken the lead with a goal by Ansgar Knauff in a 21st-minute breakaway at the renovated Camp Nou stadium, which still can’t hold full capacity.
Son watches Spurs win
Son Heung-min said a belated goodbye to Tottenham as his former club moved up to ninth after beating Slavia Prague 3-0 on an own goal and two penalties in a game overshadowed by a dispute over moving a rainbow flag showing support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Julián Alvarez scored for the ninth time in his last nine league-phase appearances to lead Atletico Madrid to a 3-2 come-from-behind win at PSV Eindhoven.
Marseille held on for a 3-2 win over Union Saint-Gilloise, whose players and fans twice celebrated what they thought were goals to level the score late on, only for both to be ruled out for narrow offsides on video review.
Folarin Balogun bundled the ball over the line from close range to give Monaco a 1-0 win over Galatasaray.
Olympiakos broke through a determined Kairat Almaty defense to take a 1-0 win in Kazakhstan and boost its hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages. Gelson Martins scored for the Greek side in the 73rd.
