Sevilla 2-1 Tottenham

Peculiar refereeing decisions and disturbing crowd violence permeated that which should have been, could have been and still in many ways was an evening of exciting football. Tottenham opened in the brightest way possible; Dimitar Berbatov taking a shot at goal with a few seconds gone and then setting up Robbie Keane who, when goalkeeper Palop saved his shot, tapped in the rebound and made it 0-1 with 68 seconds on the clock. Spurs kept the pressure on, but also afforded Sevilla an opportunity when a backwards Stalteri header hit Pascal Chimbonda (filling in at centre-half for the ineligible Ricardo Rocha) instead of Paul Robinson and fell to Adriano. The Sevilla midfielder charged towards goal forcing Robinson to make a courageous dive at his feet to take the ball. This he did, with both his hands, but Alain Hamer, Luxembourg’s finest referee, astonishingly pointed to the spot and showed Robinson yellow for arguing about it.

Former Spurs striker Fredi Kanouté, eager to score after the build-up to the game, walked up and expertly converted the penalty. The decision incensed the visiting fans and their agitation about it may have been the spark which prompted police to enter the stands; whatever happened to start it, violence soon erupted and added to the confusion of the game. Throughout the game the referee awarded a surprising number of free kicks, for challenges which seemed perfectly good; Martin Jol spoke of the ‘different culture’ which saw the Spanish players collapsing easily, but even Spurs got a fair few of the free kicks which only managed to achieve disrupted play. As the crowd violence peaked behind Robinson’s goal Sevilla were able to capitalise on another defensive mistake as a corner kick clearance became less of a clearance and instead enabled Alexander Kerzhakov to head the ball in the net on 35 minutes.

After the interval, when the trouble in the crowd had been subdued, the Spurs players regained full focus and put the pressure on. The second half saw some good chances narrowly missing out and at 2-1 it was to stay; by no means a hopeless result for Spurs, who, away goal in bag, stand a decent chance to turn it around at the Lane. We saw Jol’s tactics for closing down Sevilla’s play working well, with Daniel Alves for instance not threatening to his full potential, and considering it took a controversial penalty to secure Sevilla’s win the outcome of this game leaves the next open. All in all, the lads put in an admirable performance, retaining composure in disruptive circumstances and never giving up.

Sevilla
Palop, Javi Navarro, David (Dragutinovic 68), Daniel, Escude, Renato (Marti 60), Poulsen, Adriano Correia, Kerzhakov, Kanoute, Jesus Navas.
Subs Not Used: Cobeno, Duda, Chevanton, Hinkel, Maresca.

Booked: David.
Goals: Kanoute 19 pen, Kerzhakov 36.

Tottenham
Robinson, Stalteri, Chimbonda, Dawson, Young-Pyo Lee, Lennon (Malbranque 80), Zokora, Jenas, Tainio (Ghaly 84), Keane, Berbatov.
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Mido, Defoe, Taarabt, Ifil.
Booked: Robinson, Tainio, Young-Pyo Lee, Zokora.
Goals: Keane 2.

Att: 32,000
Ref: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg)

Image from www.tottenhamhotspur.com