Tottenham 4-0 Wolfsberger (8-1 agg): Dele Alli stars as Spurs cruise into Europa League last 16

Match report as Dele Alli, Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale goals send Tottenham into last-16 of Europa League

@jacktwilkinson

Wednesday 24 February 2021 19:28, UK

Dele Alli scored a stunning overhead kick as Tottenham beat Wolfsberger 4-0 to cruise into the Europa League last 16 with an 8-1 aggregate victory.

Alli marked his return to the Spurs starting line-up with a sensational bicycle kick inside 10 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and sealed a man-of-the-match performance with second-half assists for Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale.

With Spurs’ 4-1 first-leg lead extended to an even more handsome advantage, Jose Mourinho took the opportunity to blood some youngsters, with 16-year-old Dane Scarlett registering his first senior assist for the club as Vinicius doubled his tally late on.

The victory provided Spurs with some much-needed respite from their stuttering domestic campaign and sees them become the first British side to qualify for the last 16 ahead of Friday’s draw.

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  • Europa League fixtures | Results
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Alli and future stars shine bright for Spurs

Spurs took just 10 minutes to extend their first-leg lead thanks to a moment of individual brilliance from Alli.

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The out-of-favour forward gave his manager a timely reminder of the quality he possesses, bringing Matt Doherty’s cross under control before sending a stunning overhead kick into the far corner as raced into a 5-1 aggregate lead.

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The gulf in the scoreline did little to dampen the enthusiasm of Wolfsberger, whose captain Michael Liendl was denied an equaliser by Joe Hart on 36 minutes.

Spurs should have doubled their lead on the night a minute before half-time when Vinicius raced through on goal after Erik Lamela has brilliantly won back possession on halfway, but having rounded on-rushing Wolfsberger goalkeeper Manuel Kuttin, the Brazilian’s effort was cleared off the line by Gustav Henriksson.

Vinicius finally got his customary Europa League goal five minutes after the restart. Alli was involved again, curling a teasing ball which was begging to be converted, and the Brazilian duly obliged with a header into the corner.

Mourinho took the opportunity to get more minutes under Bale’s belt, and the Wales forward needed just four from his introduction to find the target, curling a stunning first-time effort into the top corner after another inch-perfect Alli assist.

With the tie over, and Wolfsberger crestfallen, Mourinho offered a glimpse at what the future might hold at Spurs by introducing 20-year-old Marcel Lavinier, 17-year-old Nile John and Scarlett in the closing stages.

The latter’s pressing forced Wolfsberger defender Henriksson into an error on the edge of his box which Vinicius clinically punished, putting the seal on an encouraging Spurs victory with his second of the night.

Spurs extend English dominance over Austrian clubs – Match stats

  • Spurs have progressed to the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, where they were eliminated by Thomas Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund.
  • Tottenham are the ninth different team to score 100+ goals in the Europa League, with only Benfica (53) & Sevilla (55) reaching the tally in fewer games than Spurs (56 games).
  • Austrian sides have now lost 21 of their 22 trips to England in major European competition, with FK Austria Wien the only side to avoid defeat against Chelsea in a Cup Winners’ Cup encounter in October 1994.
  • Tottenham boss José Mourinho has seen one of his teams score at least eight goals across a major European knockout tie for the first time since his Real Madrid days, when his Spanish side beat Apoel Nicosia 8-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2011-12.
  • Spurs had five different goalscorers across their two-legged Last 32 tie against RZ Pellets WAC (Son Heung-Min, Gareth Bale, Lucas Moura, Carlos Vinicius, Dele Alli), the most they’ve ever had across a UEFA Europa League knockout tie.
  • Carlos Vinicius has scored in each of his last four UEFA Europa League matches (six goals), the first Spurs player to net in four straight European appearances since Jermain Defoe in November 2013 (excluding qualifiers).
  • Carlos Vinicius is averaging a goal or assist every 66 minutes in all competitions for Tottenham this season (9 goals, 3 assists), the best rate among any player at the club to have played at least 90 minutes this season.
  • Aged 16 years and 337 days, Tottenham’s Dane Scarlett is the first 16-year-old to assist a Europa League goal since Kylian Mbappé in December 2015 for Monaco against Tottenham.

When is the Europa League last-16 draw?

The draw will take place at midday on Friday, February 26 in Nyon’s House of European Football at 12pm UK time. You will be able to follow it across Sky Sports’ digital platforms.

Europa League 20/21: Key dates

  • March 11 & 18: Round of 16
  • April 8 & 15: Quarter-finals
  • April 29 & May 6: Semi-finals
  • May 26: Final (Gdansk, Poland)

What’s next?



Tottenham Hotspur
Burnley


Tottenham host Burnley on Super Sunday at 2pm – live on Sky Sports Premier League. Wolfsberger host Altach in the Austrian Bundesliga on Sunday at 1.30pm.

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