Spurs restore English pride after stunning fightback

Saturday, 1 March 2014 06:52 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Tottenham Hotspur restored some pride to English soccer by succeeding where Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City all failed over the last two weeks by winning a match in Europe. Spurs came from behind at White Hart Lane on Thursday to score a sensational 3-1 win for a 3-2 aggregate success over Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine to reach the last 16 of the Europa League.

They are the Premier League’s last surviving representative in the competition after Swansea City were eliminated following a 3-1 defeat to Napoli. Swansea became the fifth Premier League team, including Spurs, to lose a European game this month following the 2-0 defeats suffered by Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City to Bayern Munich, Olympiakos and Barcelona respectively in the first legs of their Champions League Round of 16 ties. Spurs were beaten 1-0 by Dnipro, managed by their former manager Juande Ramos, in the first leg of their Round of 32 matchup last week but bounced back to clinch the tie on Thursday. So far Chelsea, who drew 1-1 with Galatasaray in the first leg of their Champions League tie in Turkey are the only Premier League team to have avoided defeat. Spurs’s victory now means they face Benfica in the Round of 16 for a first continental clash since their epic 1962 European Cup semi-final which the Portuguese side won 4-3 on aggregate before retaining the trophy with a 5-3 win over Real Madrid. Benfica won the first leg 3-1 in front of 70,000 fans in Lisbon while Spurs won the second leg 2-1 in front of a 64,448 crowd at White Hart Lane, the biggest crowd ever to watch a European match there.