Tottenham Hotspurs spank Qarabag in their first Europa League game

Ten-man Tottenham Hotspurs marked their return to the UEFA Europa League with an exhilarating 3-0 spanking of Azerbaijani regulars in Europe Qarabag FK. 

Ange Postecoglou’s side set out to inflict more misery on the Azerbaijani champions, who have lost all six of their previous encounters against English Premier League sides. 

The kickoff of the match was delayed due to travel issues, but despite that, it was the visitors who had their first attempt on goal in the first ten minutes of the tie. 

Ragu Drãgusin, on his second European appearance, controlled the ball wrongly and allowed Juninho to snatch it off from him. The Romanian was left with no choice but to drag down the forward, which resulted in a red card. 

Five minutes after the red card incident, Spurs were fired ahead by Brendan Johnson after Qarabag’s attempt to play out from the back boomeranged, leaving Dominic Solanke to steal the ball and laid it off to Johnson, who made no mistake in sinking it into the bottom corner. 

Seven minutes into the second half, the hosts doubled their tally through Dejan Kulusevski’s corner, which was flapped by Mateusz Kochalski – unknown to the Qarabag defender, Pape Matar Sare was readily available to volley in the net. Spurs’ second goal on the night. 

The visitors were presented with a chance to get back in the game just before the hour mark when Yves Bissouma brought down Yassine Benzia in the box. Total Bayramov blasted the ensuing penalty over the bar. 

Several chances came the way of Qarabag even when the Spurs’ defense seemed to be bereft of shape and organization, but Qurban Qurbanov’s side simply could not capitalize. 

They were made to pay for their profligacy in front of goal in the sixty-eighth minute, Son Heung-Min’s curling effort was palmed into the path of Dominic Solanke, who poked in his second goal in two matches for Spurs.