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Tottenham Hotspur have left themselves lots of work to do at White Hart Lane in the second leg of their Europa League Round of 32 tie after a poor performance away to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Spurs could have very easily lost by multiple goals, but they're still within striking distance of the Ukranians and head home down just 1-0, thanks to Brad Friedel and some poor finishing from the hosts.
Spurs' best chance of the night by a mile came in the 56th minute, when Paulinho hit a cross to the back post that found Roberto Soldado in front of an empty net. Soldado failed to convert, somehow putting the ball over the crossbar. This came after he failed to capitalize on a couple of other decent half-chances in the first half.
Some poor defending by Tottenham saw Dnipro players get clean through on goal on numerous occasions, though they failed to convert on all of them. Their goal came via a penalty, conceded by Jan Vertonghen in the 80th minute. His initial challenge on Leite Matheus outside of the box was a fair one, but he couldn't win the ball. His follow-up was less clean, and the referee pointed to the spot. Yevhen Konoplyanka converted, sending Dnipro into the second leg with a lead.
Notes:
- Brad Friedel was our best player, so that's depressing
- I'll give 'not total crap' awards to Paulinho, Nabil Bentaleb and Andros Townsend
- Roberto Soldado might have the yips permanently
- I think the penalty call was correct
- As bad as this was, 1-0 is not insurmountable
- If you win the Europa League, you get a trophy and I like trophies