STV News

Aberdeen sign teenage Spurs defender on loan for remainder of season

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Aberdeen have signed teenage Tottenham Hotspur defender Alfie Dorrington on loan for the rest of the current season.

The 19-year-old put pen to paper on a new long-term deal at the London club before sealing a move to Jimmy Thelin’s side.

He will remain at Pittodrie until the summer where he hopes to pick up some vital first-team experience before returning to London for next season.

Dorrington has made one first-team appearance for Spurs this season and has seven caps for England under-19s.

The Dons confirmed the signing on Monday and manager Thelin said: “Alfie is a really exciting young prospect who recently made his debut for the Tottenham Hotspur first team.

“He has good speed, stature and good ability on the ball and his arrival will further strengthen our options at centre-back.

“We believe this will be an environment in which he can continue to grow and gain some invaluable match experience in a really competitive league.”

Spurs, currently managed by former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou, also confirmed that Dorrington extended his current deal until 2029 before moving north on loan.

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Raskin: Performance against Spurs gives Rangers confidence for final

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Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin says their performance in the Europa League draw with Tottenham Hotspur gives them extra confidence ahead of Sunday’s League Cup final.

The Belgian midfielder was in impressive form as Philippe Clement’s men took the game to the English Premier League side on Thursday night.

Hamza Igamane opened the scoring before Dejan Kulusevski equalised with 15 minutes remaining to secure a 1-1 draw.

Former Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster was the Spurs hero at the end when he produced a fine save to prevent Cyriel Dessers from scoring what would have been a certain winner from point-blank range.

It will be Celtic at Hampden up next with the first piece of silverware of the season on the line.

Rangers will arrive at the national stadium in their best form of the season with four wins before the Spurs draw, including a 4-1 away victory over Nice and wins over Kilmarnock, St Johnstone and Ross County.

And, despite no wins in their last six against the Hoops, Raskin insists they will be going into the game with confidence.

Speaking after Thursday’s game, Raskin said: “It obviously brings the confidence even higher. I think we’ve been in good form the last couple of weeks.

“Now Hamza’s scoring goals, everybody is really good. So we’re looking forward to Sunday.

“We just want to go there and win the game now, It’s about recovering and going there to win.”

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Rangers and Spurs draw in thrilling Europa League match at Ibrox

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Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur have drawn 1-1 in a hard-fought Europa League tie at Ibrox.

Hamza Igamane put Rangers ahead early in the second half but Spurs battled back and Dejan Kulucevski netted an equaliser that earned his side a point from a thrilling game.

Spurs almost got off to an explosive start when the ball was worked to Timo Werner in the box within the first 20 seconds but the German was thwarted and Jack Butland collected the resultant corner with ease.

From there, Rangers were on top, with Ridvan Yilmaz and then Hamza Igamane having early shots at the Spurs goal.

Former Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster had been given a loud reception from the Rangers fans when his name was read from the team sheets pre-match but he astonished the home fans ten minutes in with a fingertip save to deny a powerful shot from Nedim Bajrami that was destined for the top corner.

Philippe Clement had been urging his players on from the first whistle and they continued to take the game to their more fancied opponents, with Vaclav Cerny next to threaten but choosing the wrong pass after breaking into space.

The Czech winger forced a save from Forster soon after and Rangers were frustrated soon after when a low cross from Jefte was just out of Bajrami’s reach with the goal wide open to him.

There was a blow for the Ibrox side just after the half hour mark though, when John Souttar went down with an apparent groin injury and he had to be replaced with Leon Balogun.

Spurs had looked disjointed and wasteful but they weren’t without attacking threat and Butland had to be sharp to deny Brennan Johnson from close range, though the offside flag went up soon after.

At half-time there was no doubt who the better team had been but the scoreline remained goalless.

That changed just two minutes after the restart. James Tavernier carried the ball forward down the right flank and curled in a cross from deep. Hamza Igamane ran on to the ball and fired in a clinical shot low into the corner as Ibrox erupted.

Dejan Kulusevski had replaced Werner at half time as Ange Postecoglou sought to get something from his side and the Swede set up Johnson but saw the forward fail to test Butland from 12 yards out.

Mohamed Diomande was next to try his luck with an ambitious half-volley that went wide and the noise level at Ibrox went up another notch.

Spurs made a triple change, bringing on Dominic Solanke, Pape Sarr and Lucas Bergvall for Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Johnson. The visitors had another good chance soon after when James Maddison had a free-kick just outside the Rangers box but put his effort well over the bar.

Rangers seemed unsure of whether to defend their lead or push for a killer second, while Spurs were putting their foot to the floor in pursuit of an equaliser. They got that with 15 minutes left to play.

A swift passing move saw the side in white glide up the pitch and after an exchange of passes Kulusevski slotted a finish low past Butland to bring his side level and set up a thrilling finale.

Tavernier was forced into a desperate block to deny Solanke as Spurs pushed on but there was plenty of space for the host to pour into when they took possession.

Cyriel Dessers had come on to replace Igamane and he was given a golden opportunity with five minutes left. The striker slipped past Archie Gray and fired in his shot but Forster saved, forcing the ball wide when all of Ibrox thought it was destined for the back of the net.

The Rangers striker had the ball in the net moments later, only to be flagged offside.

Solanke had a last chance to make the headlines when Maddison picked him out in the last minute of regulation time but his weak header was collected by Butland and both sides had to reflect on missed opportunities as they were forced to settle for a point each.

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Rangers to face Spurs and Manchester Utd in Europa League

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Rangers will face two English Premier League clubs in the Europa League.

The Ibrox side were in the draw on Thursday when they found out their eight opponents in the first phase of the revamped competition.

They will play Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Lyon, Olympiacos, Union Saint-Gilloise, Malmo, Steaua Bucharest and Nice.

That means a return to Scotland for former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian, who won five trophies in two seasons at Parkhead, is now in charge at Spurs who Rangers will play in Glasgow.

Their other home games will be against Lyon, Union SG and Steaua Bucharest with trips to Old Trafford to play Man Utd, Greece to play Olympiacos, Sweden to face Malmo and France to take on Nice

The dates and times of the fixtures have yet to be announced.

In the new-look tournament, the group stage has been replaced by a league phase, with all 36 teams in one table.

Each team will play eight games against eight different opponents, with four games at home and four away.

The top eight teams will progress to the round of 16, with teams placed 9th to 24th going through to a play-off round. Sides finishing from 25th to 36th are knocked out of European competition altogether.

The league phase begins in the week of September 25-26 and runs until the last week in January.

Rangers were the first team drawn out of pot one, with the algorithm determining a home game against Spurs as well a trip to Old Trafford.

United, also in pot one, were handed a trip to Turkish side Fenerbahce – managed by their former boss Jose Mourinho.

The other games in United’s away schedule will be at Porto, Steaua Bucharest and Czech side Viktoria Plzen.

United’s remaining home games will be against PAOK, last season’s Greek champions, Bodo/Glimt of Norway and Dutch side FC Twente.

Tottenham, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, have home games against Roma, AZ Alkmaar, Qarabag and Swedish side Elfsborg.

As well as a trip to Ibrox, the other away fixtures will see Spurs travel to Ferencvaros of Hungary, Turkish giants Galatasaray and also Hoffenheim in Germany.

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