Bale on the mark but Tottenham are made to pay in crazy LASK draw

Gareth Bale

Tottenham reached the knockout stages of the Europa League but missed the chance to do so with a win as Austrian side LASK scored an injury-time equaliser to draw 3-3 in Linz.

Spurs made a sloppy start at the Linzer Stadion and almost went behind inside six minutes.

After Gareth Bale had been dispossessed, the ball was worked to LASK’s Thomas Goiginer, who was denied by an excellent block from Davinson Sanchez.

The hosts then saw Johannes Eggestein strike the post with a shot from outside the area.

It was an early warning sign for Tottenham and it was no surprise when they did fall behind.

That goal arrived with three minutes of the first half left through Peter Michorl.

Spurs right-back Matt Doherty slipped and the Austrian outfit broke at pace in a four against three situation.

Although the danger seemed to be over, Michorl tried his luck from range. His effort moved in the air and dipped to beat stand-in keeper Joe Hart from 30 yards.

Tottenham’s lacklustre display was reminiscent of their showing back in October when they suffered a 1-0 loss at Royal Antwerp.

However, they claimed a lucky break on the stroke of half-time when a handball in the area handed them an unlikely penalty.

In one of Tottenham’s first genuine attacks of the game, it was Lucas Moura who got to the byline and cut back for Tanguy Ndombele.

The Frenchman’s goalbound shot was blocked by LASK defender Andres Andrade’s hand. Referee Pawel Raczkowski did not hesitate to point to the spot.

Bale took the responsibility and sent Alexander Schlager the wrong way. It was only his second goal since returning to the club in September and may go a small way to silencing the doubters.


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Son on the mark

Heung-min Son, Gareth Bale TEAMtalk

Tottenham completed the turnaround in the 56th minute with Son Heung-min’s 12th goal of the season.

LASK captain James Holland gave away possession with a misplaced pass. That allowed Ndombele to thread through a perfect ball into the path of his teammate.

Son raced away and slotted home to make it 2-1, putting Jose Mourinho’s men on track for the last 32.

However, Johannes Eggestein looked to have denied Spurs a win with six minutes left to play when he netted an equaliser.

Spurs then reclaimed the lead in the 88th minute. Sub Steven Bergwijn was upended in the area to give Spurs their second penalty of the evening. Up stepped Dele Alli to tuck it away.

However, the drama wasn’t over and LASK ensured a crazy end to the match with a goal in added-on time, Mamoudou Karamoko netting with almost the last action.

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