Tottenham Hotspur picked up a 3-0 win over Qarabag in their first league game of the Europa League campaign on Thursday evening.
The London heavyweights went down to 10 men after just 7 minutes on the clock. Radu Dragusin was handed his marching orders with a straight red card. Lucas Bergvall was replaced by Destiny Udogie to bolster the defence as Spurs managed to secure a 3-0 win.
Brennan Johnson continued his good scoring form by breaking the deadlock in the 12th minute. Pape Sarr made it 2-0 in Spurs’ favour. He played a huge part in the 3rd goal scored by Solanke after making a terrific run behind Qarabag’s defence.
The 22-year-old star has been a regular off the bench during the early part of the Premier League season, but he has sent a big message to manager Ange Postecoglou ahead of the encounter against Manchester United on the road.
Postecoglou will most likely continue with Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski in midfield, but Sarr has certainly shown that he is ready to step up to the starting line-up when the manager requires him to.
Apart from his crucial goal, Sarr completed 92% of his passes with 100% long balls and 100% aerial duels won.
His performance was also praised by the national media. Standard Sport described him as ‘tireless‘ in their player ratings while football.london said that he was ‘much better‘ in the 2nd half against the reigning Azerbaijani champions.
Spurs were far from their best against Qarabag, but it was justifiable after the sending off of Dragusin. They were fortunate to come up against a Qarabag side who missed plenty of scoring chances and also squandered a penalty kick.
Postecoglou’s side will need to be better defensively if they want to beat Manchester United in Sunday’s Premier League clash at Old Trafford. United have drawn the last two games, but they have improved at the back this season.
