Spurs set for Euro group stages
Spurs were last season mixing it among Europe’s elite, beating Inter Milan and AC Milan in the Champions League before being knocked out at the quarter-final stage by Real Madrid — and their class told throughout last night’s contest.
It took little more than four minutes for the visitors to take the lead as Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring and Jermain Defoe netted a second eight minutes later.
Jake Livermore struck on his third Spurs appearance after 28 minutes as the visitors scythed through the hosts’ defence once more.
After demonstrating their speed and strength in the first half, Gareth Bale did so once more as he netted a fourth after 63 minutes and Aaron Lennon added a fifth after 78 minutes.
Elsewhere, a Clint Dempsey’s brace and an Aaron Hughes effort helped Fulham secure a comfortable 3-0 victory over Dnipro ahead of next week’s return leg in Ukraine.
Stoke also won last night with a Danny Pugh goal giving Tony Pulis’ side a 1-0 win away to Switzerland’s FC Thun.
Meanwhile, Chris Hughton’s Birmingham earned a goalless draw from the first leg of their Europa League play-off match at Portuguese side Nacional.
Celtic found Sion keeper Andris Vanins just too formidable a barrier in the first-leg of their Europa League play-off clash at Parkhead.
In a frustrating night Sion’s inspired number one had good saves from Charlie Mulgrew, Kris Commons and substitute Shaun Maloney to keep the tie in the balance.
It was another disappointing night for Ally McCoist as Rangers were denied a draw against Maribor in the first leg of their Europa League play-off at the Stadion Ljudski vrt thanks to a last-gasp winner on the night from the Slovenians.
Juan Manuel Ortiz netted his first goal for Rangers when he fired the Glasgow giants into a first-half lead, but Agim Ibraimi levelled after the break before substitute Etien Velikonja found the back of the net in injury time.
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