Disallowed ‘goals’ leave AVB furious

Tottenham 0 Lazio 0

The Italian giants came to White Hart Lane on the back of a five-match winning streak, but they were outplayed for large parts of last night’s Group J clash, which Villas-Boas clearly feels his side should have won.

The Portuguese was livid at referee Ovidiu Alin Hategan for disallowing Steven Caulker’s goal deep into the second half.

The centre-back leapt high to head home Gareth Bale’s corner but the Romanian official ruled he had pushed his marker in the lead-up to the goal, a decision which caused Villas-Boas to fling his arms up in the air in an angry manner.

The Portuguese had already seen Clint Dempsey’s header ruled out for a marginal offside and Bale also had a strike chalked off after latching on to the American’s through-ball.

Sandro and Bale both missed close-range headers and Villas-Boas will probably look back at this as a missed opportunity ahead of what is expected to be a tough trip to Panathinaikos next month.

Dempsey was disappointed his ‘goal’ had been ruled out.

He said: “I thought I was level with the line, it was a good ball from [Gareth] Bale and as it went in I thought I’d opened my account but it was waved offside.

“That’s the way it goes sometimes, they defended well, set up to counter-attack and were tough to break down.

“But we had some chances and were unlucky not to get the goal tonight.”

Dempsey was a deadline-day capture from Fulham, and despite being denied the chance to register a first goal, the American is pleased with the way things are going.

“It’s good to be getting games,” he added. “I’m trying to create chances or trying to get on the end of things, I can play in other positions.’’

Lazio could have stolen the game at the end through Stefano Mauri and came within a whisker of going ahead in the first half when Alvaro Gonzalez beat Hugo Lloris but saw his shot rattle the woodwork.

Aaron Lennon, captain for the night, Bale and Caulker all impressed while a clean sheet for debutant Lloris was another plus point.

TOTTENHAM: Lloris, Vertonghen, Walker, Caulker, Naughton, Lennon (Townsend 82), Dembele, Bale, Sandro, Defoe, Dempsey (Sigurdsson 76).

LAZIO: Marchetti, Cavanda, Biava, Dias, Lulic, Onazi (Zarate 81), Gonzalez, Mauri (Ederson 92), Ledesma, Hernanes (Ciani 94), Klose.

Ref: Ovidiu Hategan (Rou).