.
Hello and welcome to Telegraph Sport’s live, minute-by-minute coverage of Tottenham Hotspur v AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League. It’s Spurs’ biggest game of the season – and potentially of Ange Postecoglou’s time as manager. Win and they will keep alive their chance of winning a trophy in Postecoglou’s second year. Lose and – just like that – their season will be over.
Spurs need to overcome a 1-0 deficit after a meek performance in the first leg in Alkmaar. They followed that with a slightly fortuitous 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth on Sunday, though there was some good news in the return from injury of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.
“You want your big, experienced players to perform in these games, for sure,” said Postecoglou. “We have relied a lot on our younger players who have progressed really well. But on a night like this, having Romero, Maddison, Vicario and Sonny out there, the whole leadership group, will definitely be beneficial.”
AZ are intrepid and dangerous opponents. They beat Roma and Fenerbahce in the league stage and hammered Galatasaray in the previous round. One of AZ’s dangermen is former Spurs striker Troy Parrott, who joined them in the summer after an eye-catching loan spell at Excelsior last season. This is their second visit to north London this season: they were beaten 1-0 by Spurs in the league stage in October.
A similar score tonight would take the tea to extra-time, then maybe penalties. It could be a long night.
Kick off is at 8pm. The winners will almost certainly Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-final; they lead Ajax 2-0 on the night, 4-1 on aggregate
Read More
