Son Heung-min insisted that Tottenham’s defeat by AZ in the Europa League must be a “wake-up call” for their hopes of winning silverware this season as Ange Postecoglou admitted his side did not have the “right mindset for an away game in Europe”.
Spurs managed only one shot on target in the first leg of their last-16 tie and Lucas Bergvall’s own goal handed the Dutch side a slender advantage for next week’s second leg in north London. In the second half, Son was replaced by Dominic Solanke, who was then forced off himself. The England striker had just returned from seven weeks out with a knee injury, but Postecoglou said he hoped the latest problem was just a knock.
Son, the Tottenham captain, was highly critical of his side’s display and called on the team to adopt a different mindset for what he described as “the biggest game of our season next week”. “This was nowhere near the level we should be in terms of our performance,” he said. “This is very disappointing, including from myself, and it is a big wake-up call ahead of the biggest game of our season next week. It is tough playing away from home in the Europa League. We were sloppy and not performing how we should. Everyone is disappointed and we have to look at ourselves. No excuses and it was nowhere near good enough. It is just 1-0 and the tie is not finished. Next week we have to be much better than we were tonight.”
Postecoglou acknowledged that the deficit could have been greater had AZ taken their chances. “We didn’t really come to grips and have the right mindset to tackle an away fixture in Europe,” said the head coach. “It is always tough and we obviously conceded the goal, which was a disappointing set of events but even after that we didn’t really settle down into the game at all.
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A stoppage-time goal earned Roma a 2-1 home win over Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie as Lazio snatched a late 2-1 win at Viktoria Plzen, despite finishing the game with nine men.
Roma wasted two decent chances to take a first-half lead. Artem Dovbyk found a way past the Bilbao defence and into the area but lost his footing as he went to shoot and Paulo Dybala thundered a shot off the crossbar.
Bilbao took the lead five minutes after the break when Iñaki Williams headed in, but Roma were soon level when Angeliño’s shot went in off the post after a cutback from Zeki Celik. Bilbao went down to 10 men five minutes from time after Yeray Álvarez received a second booking and Roma snatched the late winner via Eldor Shomurodov.
Plzen fell behind to Lazio after 18 minutes from Alessio Romagnoli’s header but the Czechs drew level after the break when the unmarked Rafiu Durosinmi headed home from close range. Lazio had Nicolò Rovella sent off and Samuel Gigot also saw red in added time, but Gustav Isaksen curled a shot into the top corner in the 98th minute to give them victory.
Bodø/Glimt took a major step towards the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win over Olympiakos and Eintracht Frankfurt secured a 2-1 win at Ajax.
Bodø/Glimt were in front after 13 minutes thanks to Konstantinos Tzolakis’s own goal, the Olympiakos keeper knocking Jostein Gundersen’s header into his own net after the ball bounced down off the crossbar.
The hosts doubled their lead when Kasper Høgh tapped in Ole Blomberg’s cross and Høgh was on target after the break with another close-range finish. The Norwegian side will fancy their chances of advancing when they head to Greece with a three-goal cushion over last season’s Conference League winners.
Ajax went ahead in the 10th minute through Brian Brobbey’s header but Frankfurt levelled when Hugo Larsson netted with a powerful strike from distance which took a slight deflection off Brobbey. Frankfurt grabbed the winner 20 minutes from time, Ellyes Skhiri finishing off a pass from Ansgar Knauff.
Earlier in the evening, Lyon secured a 3-1 victory at FCSB. Malick Fofana netted twice in the final four minutes to wrap up the win.
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“You are going to face some pressure when you play away from home in Europe and weather the storm and get to grips with it, but we never really did so that was a disappointment. It’s only 1-0 so I guess that’s a positive in that we didn’t let the game get away from us.”
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Asked about the extent of Solanke’s injury after he had to be helped back to the dugout by a physio having landed awkwardly after a challenge, Postecoglou added: “I am not even sure. It looks like a knock but I haven’t really seen it. Hopefully nothing too bad.”
