Tottenham Hopes Left Hanging After Benfica Score Three

Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League hopes were left hanging by a thread as Benfica stunned White Hart Lane to win 3-1.

Individual mistakes contributed once again to Tottenham's downfall, but they were outplayed by a Benfica side captained by Luisao, who bagged a brace to help his side to a stunning victory.

Christian Eriksen had pulled one back with a fine free-kick for Spurs, with Rodrigo scoring the opener.

The game got off to a scrappy start as both teams flooded the midfield and became bogged down in the centre of the pitch, with the first effort not coming until almost midway through the half when Sandro had a decent shooting opportunity but ballooned it high and wide.

With Spurs suddenly looking shaky as Benfica enjoyed some half-chances, the visitors pounced to take the lead. Ruben Amorim played a fine slide-rule pass from midfield which completely exposed a high but narrow defensive line from the hosts. Rodrigo was able to use his pace to get on the end of it, cut inside and curl the ball beyond Hugo Lloris and stun the home crowd.

The goal disrupted Spurs' flow, and while they continued to make forays into the opposition half, they could not produce a clear chance. Benfica were now even more content to sit back on the counter-attack, and Lazar Markovic got behind the Spurs backline before scuffing his attempted cross.

After half-time, Spurs needed to attack, but struggled to get their rhythm going again. They were almost made to pay when Harry Kane gave the ball away to Amorim in midfield, but Lloris was able to keep his ferocious drive out. Unfortunately for Spurs, they then neglected to adequately mark Luisao from the resultant corner, and the veteran defender glanced in a goal which left the hosts in real trouble.

Spurs did not look likely to get anything from the game, but Kane then redeemed himself in part by winning a free-kick outside the area. Up stepped by far Spurs' best player of the night, Christian Eriksen, and the Dane hammered in a glorious strike to give his team renewed hope.

Yet Tottenham could not use the goal to drive themselves on - Benfica remained on top, and almost found a third due to a calamitous mix-up between Jan Vertonghen and Lloris, allowing Rodrigo to steal in between them, but the French keeper just managed to recover to claw the ball away.

Unfortunately, Spurs could not hold on. The introduction of Nicolas Gaitan caused problems, and after he won a free-kick which saw Vertonghen pick up a yellow card and a suspension for the next game, they found their third goal. Ezequiel Garay got on the end of it but thumped his header straight at Lloris. The ball fell to Luisao to smash home his second and Benfica's third.

After that, Spurs twice came close to going even further behind as Gaitan and then Guilherme Siqueira both missed late chances, but Benfica were more than happy with the 3-1 win.