Spurs 3-1 Dnipro (3-2 agg) - Tim's verdict
Fri 28 February 2014, 02:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Tim Sherwood said he could sense victory was on once Christian Eriksen equalised against Dnipro in the second leg of our Europa League Round of 32 tie on Thursday night.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Ukraine, we failed to break down the visitors in the first half and then suffered a huge blow of conceding an away goal as Roman Zuzulya headed home two minutes into the second half.
That meant we needed three goals to progress – and we delivered in a thrilling 13-minute spell.
Christian curled home a free-kick for 1-1 on 56 minutes, Dnipro goalscorer Zuzulya was then sent off for an off-the-ball incident and Christian was there again to deliver a cross for Emmanuel Adebayor to covert for 2-1 on 65 minutes.
Four minutes later and Ade collected Zeki Fryers’ pass on his chest, losing defender Yevhen Cherberyachko in the process and then lofted the ball past goalkeeper Denys Boyko.
Tim likened the victory to the 5-1 win against Chelsea in the League Cup semi-final during his playing days here in 2002.
“It was the Chelsea game all over again but (on that night) we didn’t take a blow, we scored and scored and scored, but we did take a blow tonight and we still came back,” said Tim.
“The fans were brilliant. You just feel it. I sensed it, as soon as we scored the equaliser I just thought ‘this is it’, another one of those nights at the Lane.
“We took a real blow by conceding so early in the second half but we had the belief.
“We needed to show spirit and character and we certainly did that in the second half, especially after going behind.
“It was important to bounce back and I’m proud of the lads, the way they responded and kept this great club in the competition.”
Victory means we will now face Portuguese giants Benfica in the Round of 16.
The first leg will be at White Hart Lane on Thursday, March 13 with the return at the famous Estadio da Luz a week later on Thursday, March 20.
“It will be a great tie,” added Tim. “One of the big clubs in Europe, it will be immense. A two-legged tie against them is fantastic and we’re looking forward to it."
