Tottenham Record In Greece – European Competitions

Tottenham Hotspur travel to Greece to play Asteras Tripolis in the fourth match in Group C of the Europa League. Having won 5 – 1 in the home match a fortnight ago, they will travel confidently but can expect a difficult match if previous European ties in that country are anything to go by.

Tottenham v Greek Opponents

1972-73

Spurs played Olympiakos in the UEFA Cup 2nd Round, winning the home game 4 – 0 with goals from Jimmy Pearce (2), Martin Chivers and Martin Peters. They lost the second leg by a single goal but that was Spurs sixth game in 14 days and they were without captain, Martin Peters, through illness. In a testing atmosphere Spurs withstood the first half pressure but conceded a goal just before the interval. Spurs held on in the second  half and went on to reach the semi-finals of the competition that year where they lost to Liverpool on the away goals rule.

November, 1972 v Olympiakos (a)  Lost 0 – 1

Team: Jennings; Evans, Knowles; Pearce, England, Dillon, Gilzean, Perryman, Chivers, Naylor, Pratt

2011-12

Having failed to make the Champions League for a second season, Harry Redknapp opted to play a team of young players in the Europa League competition. The first group match took Spurs to Greece to play PAOK Salonika in September.

The team which included Harry Kane gave a determined performance to hold out for a scoreless draw but having had the better of the early stages, in the end Tottenham had to rely on their experienced goalkeeper, Carlo Cudicini, for the point, as he produced a number of outstanding saves late in the game. Kane was unfortunate to be booked for diving when the correct decision would have been the award of a penalty. Andros Townsend, Tom Carroll and Jake Livermore were also in the team with Giovani dos Santos and Iago Falque while Dean Parrett and Ryan Fredericks came on as substitutes.

September, 2011 v PAOK Salonika (a)  Draw 0 – 0

Team: Cudicini; Bassong, Corluka, Walker, Livermore, Townsend, Carroll, Pavlyuchenko, Giovani (Parrett), Falque (Fredericks), Kane

Having earned a draw in the away game, Tottenham lost to PAOK at White Hart Lane with a more experienced team, a result which all but ended their hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages of that season’s Europa League.

2012-13

In their first away group match of the Europa League, Spurs played Panathinaikos in Athens. Spurs dominated the first half but had only one goal to show for their efforts. Michael Dawson headed Spurs ahead in the 35th minute from a free-kick by Tom Huddlestone. The home side equalised in the 77th minute, leaving Spurs with two points from their opening two games.

October, 2012 v Panathinaikos (a) Draw 1 – 1

Team: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Vertonghen; Lenon (Townsend), Huddlestone (Sandro), Dempsey (Sigurdsson), Dembele, Bale; Defoe

In the return match at White Hart Lane in December, Spurs won 3 – 1 with the goals being scored by Emmanuel Adebayor, Jermain Defoe and an own goal.

Friendly Matches in Greece

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In the summer of 1968 Tottenham visited Greece to play three games in an end of season tour. They drew 2 – 2 in the first game against Panathinakos when Alan Gilzean scored both goals.

The other two games produced more convincing results, defeating Anorthosis 5 – 0 and winning and 7 – 1 against AEL. Jimmy Robertson scored a hat-trick and Jimmy Greaves twice in the win over Anorthosis while the goals against AEL came from Cliff Jones (2), Dennis Bond, Robertson and Gilzean (3).

The last time Spurs faced opposition in Greece was in a pre-season friendly in August, 2002. They lost 1 – 2 to AEK Athens and Gus Poyet scored for Spurs.