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Tottenham Hotspur advanced to the Europa League quarter-finals after a 3-1 victory over AZ Alkmaar.
Europa League: Tottenham Hotspur’s Wilson Odobert (AP)
Wilson Odobert scored his first two Tottenham goals as his team booked a place in the Europa League quarter-finals by beating AZ Alkmaar 3-1 on Thursday and 3-2 on aggregate.
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou’s job was reportedly on the line with Europa League success the last chance this season for the Australian to win the club’s first trophy since 2008.
Odobert has been badly impacted by injury since joining from Burnley for a £25 million ($32 million) fee in August but produced a big performance when his manager needed it.
Spurs will face 2022 winners Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals.
“We’ve progressed which is the main thing, played pretty well as well,” said Postecoglou.
“I thought we were really in control of the game, we’re our own worst enemy at times.
“When we were in control, we let them back in the game and it was nervy at the end but we thoroughly deserved to win.”
Tottenham received a huge boost before kick-off as first-choice centre-back pairing Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven were fit to start together for the first time since December.
“They’re quality players,” added Postecoglou. “Romero and Micky make such a big difference to us and you saw Wilson, we’ve hardly had him this year, what a super talent he is.”
The home side had dominated possession without being able to create a clear-cut chance until AZ played a big part in their own downfall on 26 minutes.
Son Heung-min blocked Wouter Goes’ attempted clearance and the ball rolled perfectly for Dominic Solanke, who calmly teed up Odobert to curl home from 12 yards.
The second period was only 149 seconds old when Tottenham made it 2-0 to go ahead in the tie for the first time.
James Maddison made his case to new England manager Thomas Tuchel on the eve of his first squad announcement with a composed finish from Son’s pass.
Tottenham’s lead in the tie only lasted 15 minutes before a mix-up between Odobert and Lucas Bergvall presented the ball to Peer Koopmeiners, who blasted home to give the Dutch side hope.
However, Spurs rallied in the closing stages and got their reward 16 minutes from time thanks to a fine team goal.
Maddison’s spin away from his marker opened up the pitch and after Djed Spence was played in down the left, his cross was flicked on by Solanke for Odobert to tap in at the back post.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
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London, United Kingdom (UK)
