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Tottenham have work to do to reach the Europa League semi-finals after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their last-eight tie.

Ange Postecoglou watched Spurs go behind after six minutes through Hugo Ekitike’s fine long-range strike, but Pedro Porro pulled them level midway through the first half with a sumptuous back-heel finish.

The Premier League outfit upped the ante after the break with Lucas Bergvall and Rodrigo Bentancur hitting the woodwork, while Frankfurt’s back-up goalkeeper Kaua Santos produced crucial saves to deny Son Heung-min, James Maddison and Micky van de Ven to leave the tie finely-poised ahead of next Thursday’s second leg in Germany.

This was Tottenham’s first European quarter-final since 2019, but a torrid domestic campaign meant it was another two-legged tie built up as make-or-break for Postecoglou, who stated on Wednesday the “general sentiment” was that even winning this competition may not save his job.

Spurs’ bid to make the last four got off to the worst possible start when Frankfurt delighted their bouncing travelling fans with a sixth-minute goal.

After Maddison lost possession to Ellyes Skhiri, the visitors produced a slick counter-attack and Ekitike cut inside Porro before arrowing a 22-yard effort into the bottom corner for his 20th goal of the season.

The hosts had to survive two corners in quick succession shortly afterwards, but did begin to regroup with two dangerous crosses by Son and Dominic Solanke enough to get the home supporters briefly off their feet.

A goal was required to light the touchpaper for Tottenham and an unlikely source provided it in the 26th minute.

Son and Solanke initially combined before the latter found Maddison, who burst past Skhiri and cut back for Porro to brilliantly back-heel the leveller for only his third goal this term.

It sparked big celebrations from Spurs’ single-tier South Stand but another chance went begging when Son blazed over a quick free-kick.

Ekitike bookended the half with a weak effort straight at Guglielmo Vicario before a crucial Bergvall intervention denied him another chance immediately after the break.

Bergvall was the catalyst for a momentum shift as he superbly turned away from two opponents and sent a 55th-minute piledriver against the crossbar to spark a period of Spurs dominance.

It was followed by a flying save from Kaua to thwart Son’s curled effort before a Bentancur header from the resulting Porro corner went over via the crossbar.

A low effort by Maddison, which Kaua did well to block, concluded a spell of four chances in as many minutes that ultimately did not result in a second Tottenham goal.

Jean-Matteo Bahoya hooked over for Frankfurt not long after in a reminder of their threat before another Bentancur header was saved by Kaua.

Postecoglou rolled the dice late on with Son and Maddison withdrawn and a stoppage-time winner almost followed but Van de Ven’s close-range header from a Bentancur knock-down was impressively tipped over by Kaua.

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has been dealt another selection problem with a sickness bug running through his squad this week.

Spurs were already set to be without nine players for Saturday’s visit of Newcastle after Destiny Udogie suffered a hamstring injury in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Wolves and Rodrigo Bentancur received his fifth yellow card of the Premier League season.

However, Postecoglou will also have to make a late call on a handful of players who were unable to train before Newcastle make the trip to north London.

“It looks around the six-week mark for him,” Postecoglou said of Udogie.

“Obviously we lose Bentancur suspended. None of the injured ones are kind of back yet and we had a bit of an illness running through the squad as well.

“So, a few missing training, but that’s alright. We’ll be OK.”

Postecoglou acknowledged the need for 12th-placed Spurs to get back on track after four defeats from their last six league fixtures, but they will face one of the in-form teams in the division in Newcastle.

Newcastle were 12th at the start of December, but four consecutive wins has them fifth and firmly in the race for Champions League qualification.

Tottenham have at least had a rare clear midweek to recharge after a busy December where they played nine matches, which included five fixtures across 14 days.

“I guess it helps but it is not going to totally refuel the tank in terms of where we want to be because we’re still dealing with a small number of players,” Postecoglou added.

“Again we’re going into a really busy period, January is massively busy for us with big games and it will not be long before it banks up again, but it was good for the players to have a couple of days.

“As much mentally as anything else to clear their heads and get away from the club to spend time with their families.

“From that perspective it has definitely been beneficial and they are a very, very resilient group. They are not willing to lay down, they are fighting tooth and nail to make sure we turn this around and it’s a credit to them.

“Big game for us tomorrow. From a league context, we need to start picking up points for sure and winning these games, so all our focus is on that.”

A timeline was provided for various Spurs players currently sidelined with Guglielmo Vicario the longest away with his return from a fractured ankle pencilled in for late February, while centre-backs Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Ben Davies are set for end of January returns.

Udogie will come back at some point in February and even though Mikey Moore and Richarlison are due to be available next week, Postecoglou is in desperate need of reinforcements this month, but insisted the club will not panic.

He added: “It’s no secret, we need to bolster our numbers up a little bit, so the club’s working hard on that.

“January is not an easy month, we understand it’s not an easy time to bring people in particularly.

“At the same time, we still want to make sure we do what we think is the best thing for us rather than sort of panic and bring people in who aren’t going to be a suitable fit.”

Ange Postecoglou lambasted an “unacceptable” second-half performance from Tottenham in their 3-2 loss at Brighton and admitted it was the worst defeat of his tenure at the club.

Spurs were on course for a sixth consecutive victory in all competitions when Brennan Johnson and James Maddison struck before half-time to them 2-0 up at Amex Stadium.

That made it six goals in six matches for Johnson, but the Seagulls were transformed after the break with Yankuba Minteh able to reduce the deficit in the 48th minute.

The impressive Georginio Rutter levelled 10 minutes later with a fine finish before ex-Arsenal forward Danny Welbeck completed the comeback when he headed home what proved the winner after 66 minutes.

While Tottenham produced a dominant first-half display, they were second-best after and looked a shadow of the team which had entered this fixture after fine triumphs on the road at Manchester United and Ferencvaros.

“That’s probably the most disappointing loss I’ve had since I’ve been here, in terms of the way we went about it and it’s something I need to assess,” Postecoglou reflected after his 51st match in charge of Spurs.

“We didn’t do what you need to do at this level, it’s kind of non-negotiable. We just weren’t competitive.

“We didn’t win our duels, we lacked intensity, we didn’t deliver the things you need to at this level, the basics of the game, and paid the price for it.

“Wherever it comes from, it doesn’t really matter, it’s irrelevant. It’s unacceptable at the end of the day.

“You can kind of understand that you’re not going to win every game, but there’s the manner you lose games.

“And that’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve lost the game in that manner. And like I said, unacceptable.

“There’s a lot I can do about it. That’s why I’m in the role. If I couldn’t do anything about it, I’d get somebody else to sit here.”

He added on the BBC: “It’s a terrible loss for us, as bad as it gets, and there’s only one way to fix it and that’s my responsibility.

“(It is) probably the worst defeat since I’ve been here.”

Spurs started like a train at Brighton with Timo Werner, Dejan Kulusevski and Maddison unable to make the most of openings inside the first 10 minutes.

The visitors did lead after 23 minutes when Dominic Solanke slipped through Johnson, who kept up his hot streak with a fine left-footed finish.

After Welbeck sent an effort wide soon after, Tottenham went 2-0 up when Werner cut back for Maddison and his low strike went through the hands of Bart Verbruggen.

Johnson could have added a third before the break, but Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler sent on Pervis Estupinan at half-time and the left-back immediately combined with Kaoru Mitoma to set up Minteh to lash home.

The 48th-minute effort occurred after a mistake by Destiny Udogie and the Seagulls levelled when Mitoma played in Rutter to drill into the bottom corner with 58 minutes on the clock.

Welbeck completed the comeback after fine wing-play by Rutter, who got the better of Udogie and Rodrigo Bentancur to set up former England international Welbeck to head in from close range after 66 minutes.

Hurzeler played down his role in the comeback, saying: “I am really proud how the team reacted because also at half-time, they take the responsibility, they showed character, they showed personality and the reaction was great in the second half.

“We have great characters in the team. In the end, it is my responsibility to help the team to stay positive, to find the right words, to find the right solutions, but to be honest it was the players’ game in the second half.

“They deserved it, they worked hard, they were more ruthless, they were more intense and they worked hard for the goals.”

Minnesota Vikings extended their winning streak to five matches in the NFL this season as they beat New York Jets 23-17 in London.

Jets’ veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers became the ninth player in NFL history to pass for 60,000 yards, but the Vikings’ defence was too good in front of a 61,139-crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Will Reichard gave the Vikings an early lead when he landed a 54-yard field goal and they extended their advantage to 10-0 in the first quarter with the game’s first touchdown.

Rodgers was intercepted by linebacker Andrew van Ginkel, who galloped down the sideline and into the end zone from 63 yards, with Reichard adding the conversion points.

It was only the fifth time in his career that Rodgers had been intercepted and returned for a touchdown.

Minnesota forged further ahead in the second quarter when fullback CJ Ham bull-dozed his way over from three yards for his side’s second touchdown.

Reichard added the points to put the Vikings 17-0 ahead, but the Jets responded at the end of the second quarter.

Running back Isaiah Davis completed a 35-yard return from a punt and, soon after, Rodgers showed neat footwork to evade the rush and found Allen Lazard in the end zone.

Greg Zuerlein added the extra points to make it 17-7 and kicked a 32-yard field goal at the end of the third quarter to haul his side to within seven points.

Vikings running back Aaron Jones had been withdrawn at half-time due to a hip injury, while Rodgers was troubled by a knee issue, which forced him to briefly leave the field.

Reichard restored the Vikings’ 10-point advantage at 20-10 with a 53-yard field goal in the final quarter, but the Jets responded again to set up a thrilling finale.

Garrett Wilson won a penalty for pass interference and, from the next play, the wide receiver was picked out by Rodgers for the Jets’ second touchdown.

Zuerlein landed the conversion to reduce the deficit to 20-17, only for Reichard’s 41-yard field goal to stretch the Vikings’ lead to 23-17.

The Jets chased a match-winning touchdown in the final two minutes, but Vikings cornerback Stephon Gilmore completed a superb interception pass to thwart Rodgers and help his side hold on for victory.

A friendly game between the German giants and Tottenham will take place as part of the Visit Malta Cup on Saturday, August 10.

Spurs missed out on the chance to leapfrog Aston Villa and reclaim fourth spot.

Timo Werner, Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min struck.

Spurs reclaimed fourth spot earlier this month but are back to fifth in the battle for Champions League qualification.

Spurs dropped back down to fifth after Wolves completed a league double over them.