Spurs 2-2 Basel - Match Report
An entertaining match at White Hart Lane produced a poor result for Tottenham Hotspur this Thursday evening. Spurs kicked things off in this Europa League quarter-final first leg and looked to get forward early on. In the fourth minute, William Gallas went down under a heavy challenge and looked to be heading off early - the stretcher being brought out. But he managed to get to his feet and walk off before returning to the pitch. The opening spell of the match was quite dull, with very little happening and most of the play occurring in the midfield. The first opportunities of the match fell to Basel in the space of a minute around the 10 minute mark. First, Schar tested Friedel from 18 yards, before Streller got on the end of a cross and tested Friedel again from inside the box, until the spell of pressure ended when Salah blasted over from 12 yards. A Spurs one-two ended with Moussa Dembele being fouled on the edge of the Basel penalty box on 16 minutes. The resulting free-kick was taken by Gareth Bale, but his shot deflected tamely off Dragovic straight in to Sommer's grateful hands. Tottenham nearly broke the deadlock in the 19th minute. A lovely string of one touch passes involving Emmanuel Adeboyar and Lewis Holtby ended with Bale side-footing just wide from 12 yards. There was a scare for Spurs in the 20th minute, when Aaron Lennon appeared to be struggling, but the winger seemed to recover and was able to continue for the time being. Four minutes later, however, it became clear that Lennon was indeed injured and he was promptly replaced with Gylfi Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson was immediately involved, as Jan Vertonghen set Bale free, who then found the Icelandic international on the right. His cross won Spurs a corner, which was taken by Holtby and cleared to Kyle Naughton, whose first-time volley was deflected just wide for another corner which came to nothing. On the half hour mark, Basel took the lead. A squared cross to Streller saw the big man turn and strike the post, but Stocker followed up to tap the rebound in to an open goal. Four minute later it was 2-0 to the Swiss side as Spurs looked completely shell-shocked. A corner was whipped in, Vertonghen got his head to it, but it went straight to Frei who nodded in easily. Spurs were ball-watching. Spurs came to life and showed a bit of bite for the first time as Adebayor charged forward, lost the ball, then won it back with some enthusiasm, before Holtby crossed and it came to nothing. Stocker then immediately nearly put Basel three goals up. Their counter-attack saw him through on goal, but his lofted effort went wide despite having Friedel beaten. Spurs clawed themselves back in to it on the 40th minute mark. A Bale cross hit Holtby and reached Adebayor. The Togolese man mis-kicked and Scott Parker then tried his luck. The ball fell to Adebayor again and he blasted home from 4 yards in to the roof of the net. It should have been 2-2 in the 42nd minute. Sigurdsson played a great ball through to Holtby who shot straight at Sommer from close range. The ball fell to Scott Parker, who missed with the goal completely open in front of him. Replays showed the ball hit Holtby's heels on its way to going desperately wide. As the half time whistle approached, Dembele charged forwards and shot straight at Sommer when Adebayor was in a prime position to receive a pass. Sure enough, the whistle blew to send Basel in ahead at the break. Basel kicked off the second half with neither team having made any further changes and charged forward early on to no avail. Gareth Bale found Lewis Holtby on 48 minutes with a great crossfield ball, but the German international shot high and wide with a wild strike from 20 yards out. Some excellent football from Basel in the 53rd minute ended with Stocker finding space 20 yards out. His shot was, however, charged down by a stampede of Tottenham defenders. A minute later, Salah outran and out-powered Jan Vertonghen to find himself through on goal, but Friedel was equal to his effort when he perhaps should have scored. Just two minutes later, another chance occurred, when Kyle Naughton - still looking for his first Spurs goal - struck a fantastic 30 yard effort on the half-volley which had to be saved at full stretch by Sommer. Michael Dawson was brought on to replace Benoit Assou-Ekotto in the 57th minute and Spurs were level within seconds of his arrival. Gylfi Sigurdsson got possession on the left wing, cut inside and struck a great effort from the edge of the box which deflected in off a Basel defender. Basel were almost back in front just two minutes later. Vertonghen gave the ball away to Salah who was through on goal, but he put his shot over the Tottenham crossbar. The back and forth nature of the match continued, as Sigurdsson turned provider to give Holtby an opportunity on 62 minutes. The German struck wide though, before being replaced by Clint Dempsey as Spurs looked to improve their attacking options. Stocker struck a beautifully curled 30 yard free-kick towards Friedel's top right in the 65th minute, but the American managed to tip it wide. This was followed with Basel's first substitution; Cabral replacing Die in midfield in what was essentially a straight swap. The match went very stale for a while, with no team making much progress, and the impressive Streller was replaced with Zoua in the 72nd minute. A series of attacks for Basel came to nothing, as they started to pressure Spurs heavily. Fozer shot horrendously high and wide and the closest they came in this series of attacks was when Zoua shot just wide in the 77th minute from within the six yard box. Spurs finally came to life again in the 80th minute, pushing Basel with a little bit of pressure of their own without ever really threatening. Basel countered quickly though, as Stocker cut inside only to be blocked by Gallas. Dempsey had his first involvement of real note in the 84th minute, firing a poor volley massively wide. Basel took the opportunity to replace the excellent Salah with Degen. William Gallas limped off in the 88th minute, leaving Tottenham with ten men, having made all three of their designated substitutions. Three minutes of added on time were announced. Gareth Bale went down having gone over very badly on his ankle and it didn't look good for the Welshman. Spurs, in fact, had to end the match with nine men as their star man received lengthy treatment before being taken off. Spurs fans will be eagerly hoping for good news regarding this injury. Very little else happened in the added minutes as Spurs saw the game out. They should feel lucky to come away from this match with a draw and will have to perform much better in the second leg. A bad night for the Lilywhites, a poor result and three injured players in Lennon, Gallas and Bale. Referee: Milorad Mazic. Attendance: 32,136. Tottenham Hotspur Friedel;Naughton, Gallas, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto (Dawson, 57); Dembele, Parker; Bale, Holtby (Dempsey, 63), Lennon (Sigurdsson, 24); Adebayor. FC Basel Sommer; Steinhofer, Schar, Dragovic, Voser; El-Nenny, Die (Cabral, 66), Salah (Degen, 84), Stocker; Frei, Streller (Zoua, 72).