Tottenham: 3 takeaways from win in Europa League qualifying

Lokomotiv Plovdiv’s implosion

Lokomotiv only took two shots in the match and only had one corner. Fortunately, for the Bulgarian side, that one corner led to the only shot on target for the team and a goal for a 1-0 lead and the possibility of a miracle to advance against Tottenham Hotspur in Europa League qualifying. However, the dream was not to be and Lokomotiv only have themselves to blame.

Tottenham looked like they were going to finally break through. Son’s corner had gotten into the middle, the keeper missed the ball and Lucas Moura was powering a header on target. However, Dinis Almeida had other ideas, sticking out his fist and blocking the would-be goal. Sure, there was a chance Kane might miss, but given everything overall, 1-1 playing 11-on-11 football was a lot better option than 1-0 down to 10 men with Kane stepping up to the penalty spot.

Just when it would seem things could not get any worse for Plovdiv, Birsent Karagaren decided to get cheeky. Karagaren thought he would be that guy and went over and started cleating up the penalty spot, which is a yellow card. The problem for Karagaren was he was already on a yellow care, which meant a second yellow and now a second Plovdiv player red-carded.

So now, instead of 1-1 playing 11-on-11 football, Plovdiv was down to nine men and Harry Kane was walking up to the spot. Of course, Kane drilled the penalty and less than five minutes later, Tanguy Ndombele put home the winner for Spurs and the Lokomotiv dream died. If only Almeida had just let Moura score, who knows what might have been.