Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Ten-man Spurs out of Europa League, Lyon in seventh heaven

- Reuters sportsdesk@hindustant­imes.com

Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League hopes were crushed by mid-table Belgian side Gent, who booked their spot in the last 16 with a 2-2 draw at Wembley on Thursday as the hosts paid the penalty for Dele Alli’s first-half red card.

Gent, eighth in their domestic league, went through 3-2 on aggregate after the second leg of the last-32 tie and will be joined in Friday’s draw by Olympique Lyonnais who won 7-1 at home to AZ Alkmaar for an 11-2 triumph over two legs.

Borussia Moenchengl­adbach stormed back from 3-0 down on aggregate to beat Fiorentina thanks to a 12-minute hat-trick from Lars Stindl and AS Roma cruised into the next round 4-1 despite a 1-0 home defeat against Villarreal.

Spurs had begun in front of a record Europa League crowd of 80,465 at Wembley, where they have played European home games this term due to building work at White Hart Lane, and levelled the aggregate score after 10 minutes through Christian Eriksen.

But an own goal off the head of Spurs striker Harry Kane 10 minutes later put Gent back in the driving seat, before a moment of madness from Alli sealed Tottenham’s fate.

The England midfielder showed the short fuse that was a factor in his early career as he leapt twofooted into a knee high challenge to draw a red card five minutes before halftime.

Spurs restored their advantage on the night with a thumping strike from midfielder Victor Wanyama but Jeremy Perbet, who grabbed the only goal in the first leg, scored again with a deflected effort after 82 minutes to end the hosts’ hopes.

Lyon’s Nabil Fekir grabbed a hat-trick as the French side built on their already impressive firstleg advantage to crush Dutch side AZ by the competitio­n’s second-biggest margin, after Valencia’s 10-0 defeat of Rapid Vienna last year.

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