Dembele stunner has Spurs boss dreaming

Lyon 1 Tottenham 1Tottenham win 3-2 on agg

Tottenham looked set to crash out of the competition after a dreadful first-half performance which saw Lyon take the lead through Maxine Gonalons.

Despite a period of sustained pressure, Lyon could not break through Tottenham’s back line in the second half, however, but Spurs did themselves no favours by performing poorly up front themselves.

Gareth Bale, match-winner in the 2-1 first-leg win, missed a sitter in the second half, but Mousa Dembele saved the Welshman’s blushes with a brilliant last-minute strike from 25 yards.

Spurs will now face Inter Milan — the team against which Bale pulled out two career-defining performances two seasons ago — in the third round next month. Bale scored a hat-trick in a 4-3 loss at the San Siro in 2010, and then embarrassed Maicon with a stunning display in the opposing fixture, which Spurs won 3-1.

“We had two magnificent games against Inter and we just want to recreate a special night that everyone remembers at the club,” the Tottenham manager said. “Going through against Inter Milan and Lyon puts you in a good place to win the competition.”

Lyon fans will find it hard to believe that it is not they who are facing the Italian giants in the next round.

Tottenham could barely string a pass together in the first half, with Dembele, Scott Parker and Kyle Walker all guilty of poor performances.

Bale also made a mistake in turning his back to Gonalons, allowing the Frenchman to convert Clement Grenier’s cross in the 16th minute.

Dembele’s strike, which came after he glided past Grenier and beat Remy Vercoutre with a long-range missile, clearly delighted Villas-Boas, who jumped for joy when the ball hit the back of the net 30 seconds from the end of normal time.

“It was good,” he said. “When you score in the last minute, there are all sorts of emotions going through you, especially with a goal that brings you into the next round.

“Everyone is buzzing to continue in this competition which is why we reacted so fully, so joyfully in the end.”

Tottenham fans also reacted with joy at the goal, which came after a difficult week for travelling supporters of the club. Three away fans had to be taken to hospital on Wednesday night after an attack by 50 masked thugs, apparently making anti-Semitic salutes, at a pub in the city.

LYON: Vercoutre, Reveillere, Bisevac, Lovren, Umtiti, Fofana, Grenier, Gonalons, Lacazette (Malbranque 65), Gomis (Briand 82), Lopez (Ghezzal 73).

TOTTENHAM: Friedel, Walker, Gallas, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Dembele, Parker (Livermore 84), Lennon (Dempsey 66), Holtby (Sigurdsson 74), Bale, Adebayor.

Ref: W Stark (Germany).