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Tottenham Hotspur currently sit second in their Europa League group, but they might need to break out the first team players sooner rather than later. They drew their second match in a row in the competition on Thursday, only managing a 1-1 at home against Besiktas.
In a sign of many things to come, Vlad Chiriches gifted Besiktas an excellent chance with a turnover in the 2nd minute. Thankfully, Olcay Sahan pulled his shot just wide. Besiktas kept the pressure on and should have scored again in the 12th minute, when Demba Ba hit the crossbar.
But it was Spurs that struck first, and out of almost nothing. Nabil Bentaleb set up the chance with an excellent turn and pass to Harry Kane, who placed a low, hard shot to the far post perfectly from 20 yards to score his fourth goal of the season in all competitions.
That was the last of the truly great chances for Spurs, though Paulinho did come close to getting on the end of a cross for a close-range goal late in the half. The remainder of the game was the Hugo Lloris show, and three of the saves he came up with were absolutely world class.
Sahan was the man denied by Lloris on a regular basis, somehow managing not to score with shots on target in the 32nd and 56th minutes that were kicked away and pushed up over the bar. Hugo's best save of the night came in the 76th minute on Ba, who was clean through on goal and looked like he was going to score before Lloris made a huge reaction stop.
But ultimately, Hugo couldn't do it all, and Chiriches' numerous errors would come to haunt Spurs. In the 88th minute, he whiffed on a routine clearance, then handled the ball in the box. The referee correctly gave a penalty and Ba converted it, snatching a big road point for Besiktas.