Tottenham Hotspur continued its quest of being perfect in the newly formatted Europa League, grabbing a 2-1 victory over Ferencváros in Budapest on Thursday.
Wet rainy nights in Europe are in some ways endearing. It’s fun to think of how teams tactically have to navigate poor passing and sliding challenges that bring up chunks of grass to their boots.
That’s all fun when the team you support isn’t playing. For Tottenham Hotspur, the side traveled to Budapest for the first time in conditions that forced the side to take more time than usual to dominate the flow of the contest.
Four teenagers in the starting XI — Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear, Lucas Bergvall, and Archie Gray — all had moments in the game with Moore and Gray seeing out all 90 minutes for Spurs.
Enduring a rough 20 minutes of the contest with Ferencváros trying to get things rolling in front of its home supporters — with a goal by way of a cross and to the back post called offside thanks to VAR — Spurs finally found its groove.
Waking up and realizing the moment they had to strike while the home side was upset at the chances they were squandering on the other half of the pitch, Spurs delivered.
Moore rifled a pass into the box for Lankshear who couldn’t control the pass all the way through. With a defender on his back and a slight nick off the ball, Bergvall got a slight touch to the path of Pape Sarr. Seeing the defender in front of him turning his back away from the ball — seemingly losing it in the jumble in the area — Sarr took a first-time strike to the far post to put the team up 1-0 in the 23rd minute.
Despite dealing with Ferencváros moments where the Hungarian side should have put the ball into the back of the net, Spurs sealed the deal thanks to the red-hot form of Brennan Johnson.
Coming on in the 65th minute and already making himself known with a shot hitting the crossbar, Johnson capitalized on his second strike.
Moore led the movement again as he found James Maddison who turned and fed Johnson a strong ball. Taking a touch with his right foot and controlling things, Johnson fired a shot around two Ferencváros to the far post and into the net.
Ferencváros got one back on the brink of extra time on a cross and first-time strike. It was bound to happen for the Hungarian side as they had one ruled out and a few other chances.
Spurs sought out the game in the final five minutes to stay perfect in the Europa League with the 2-1 win.
Notes: