Lyon 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur - Match Report

lyon A sensational 90th minute strike from Moussa Dembele put Tottenham Hotspur through to the Europa League round of 16 at the expense of Lyon at the Stade de Gerland. Leading 2-1 from the first leg, a 1-1 draw sees the men from White Hart Lane through 3-2 on aggregate. Lyon took a 17th minute lead, when a free-kick crossed in by Clement Grenier was headed in to the net by Maxime Gonalons, after Kyle Walker gave away a soft foul on the left touchline. Lyon began to dominate the match following on from their goal, as Spurs appeared to lack discipline - giving the ball away in midfield far too often, with Scott Parker being the worst offender - and were limited to counter-attacking on the break. A rare opening was created on 30 minutes, with Alexandre Lacazette crossing to Lisandro Lopes who dragged his shot wide after making poor contact with the ball. One minute before half-time, a scuffed 25 yard shot from the impressive Lewis Holtby was tipped on to the post by Remy Vercoutre as Tottenham came as close to scoring as they had done up until that point. An uneventful second half started with Gareth Bale volleying wide on 49 minutes from an Emmanuel Adebayor cross, which was soon followed by Brad Friedel keeping Grenier out with his feet. On 64 minutes, Adebayor himself hit the bar before Aaron Lennon's appeals for a penalty were waved away by referee Wolfgang Stark. Spurs started to press more and more for an equaliser in the final 25 minutes, bringing on Clint Dempsey, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jake Livermore to freshen things up. A number of strikes from Gareth Bale were shakily punched away by Vercoutre, who was clearly wary of the Welshman after his exploits at White Hart Lane last week. Dempsey then became Spurs' main attacking threat, heading over the bar and hitting an ambitious effort well wide of the opposition goal. Then, with only 20 seconds of normal time remaining, Belgian midfielder Moussa Dembele went round his man and buried a left-footed strike in to the bottom corner from 20 yards to send his team through and the travelling fans wild. Spurs will now play Italian giants Inter Milan in the next round, having faced them in the Champions League back in 2010. Referee: Wolfgang Stark. Attendance: 38,761. Olympique Lyonnais Vercoutre, Reveillere, Lovren, Bisevac, Umtiti, Gonalons, Fofana, Lacazette (Malbranque, 65), Grenier, Lopez (Ghezzal, 73), Gomis (Briand, 82). Tottenham Hotspur Friedel, Walker, Gallas, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Dembele, Parker (Livermore, 84), Holtby (Sigurdsson, 74), Bale, Lennon (Dempsey, 66), Adebayor.
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