August 20, (THEWILL) – In their maiden game of the Europa Conference League, English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur suffered a humbling 1-0 defeat in the first leg of the qualifier against Pacos de Ferreira, their Portuguese opponents.
Paços de Ferreira, who are 11th in the two-Matchday old 2021/2022 season of the Primeira Liga, is a football club based in the Porto district of a city with the same name as the club. They were founded in 1950 and host home games at the 9,077-seat capacity Estádio da Mata Real, where the team has been based since 1973.
Lucas Silva, Pacos’s goal-scorer, found the back of the net at the stroke of half-time as he was on the end of a beautiful defence-splitting through-ball from Nuno Santos. Silva hit it with everything he could muster to beat Pierluigi Gollini, the Spurs goalkeeper for the only goal of the tie.
It was a huge letdown after the north Londoners ecstatic start to the season in their first EPL fixture where they handed Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City a 1-0 commencement loss of their title defense campaign. And although Spurs manager, Nuno Espirito Santo reshuffled the side to have no one from that victory starting in Portugal, the defeat will sting.
It will be most damning for the squad selected. The manager gave youth a chance to shine with 17-year-old Dane Scarlett picked for the central striker role and a supporting cast of experienced team members like Lo Celso and Harry Winks backing him up in midfield and flanked by Ryan Sessegnon and Bryan Gil, who joined Spurs in July from Sevilla.
Yet, they could not muster a shot good enough to test Andrea Ferreira in the Paços goal to give Spurs the chance of an away goal to take back home ahead of the reverse fixture. That will be the most disappointing part of the encounter for the manager, given his faith in their capacity.
Newboy Gil had an early chance to open the scoring but was forced wide. He chose to cross in and delivered a ball to Sessegnon. However, the former Fulham flanker could not get the ball out of his feet and the early danger passed without profit for the visitors.
Unfortunately, when they look back, they will rue that chance because Spurs never came that close nor were allowed the opportunity to pose that sort of threat for the next 92 minutes that the game lasted.
The selection did not do their chances of keeping their places in the second leg any much favours and manager Santos will have no second thoughts bringing in the first team to finish the job in the return leg. That fixture takes place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next Thursday.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
