Europa League: Postecoglou praises Tottenham 'intent' after win over Qarabag

Spurs win Europa League opener 3-0 after Dragusin's early red card while Fenerbahce and Rangers also record victories

Dominic Solanke celebrates after putting the finishing touch on a 3-0 win for Tottenham in their Europa League opener against Qarabag. EPA

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou praised the intent of his team after they started their Europa League campaign with an impressive 3-0 home win over Qarabag despite being forced to play with 10 men for 83 minutes.

After kick off was delayed due to the late arrival of Qarabag’s team bus, Radu Dragusin’s night lasted only seven minutes when he received a red card for a cynical pull on Juninho as Spurs’ last man.

It failed to significantly knock Tottenham off their stride though, with Brennan Johnson able to score for a third successive match five minutes later before Pape Sarr doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 52nd minute.

Qarabag did regularly threaten and Tural Bayramov fired a spot-kick over after Sarr’s strike, which all but ended the visitors’ hopes and Dominic Solanke made it back-to-back goals with 22 minutes left to ensure Tottenham earned a third win in a row before Sunday’s trip to Manchester United.

Postecoglou said: “We want to be a team that tackles whatever challenge we have in a certain way.

“When you go down to 10 men invariable at times you can’t be as aggressive or keep the ball as much or play as fluently but for the most part the intent was there.

“The first goal comes from us pressing. We were pressing with 10 men and we win the ball high up, which is what we wanted to do and we ended up scoring a goal from it.

“I think for the most part the boys showed that intent. That’s the kind of team we want to be and whatever challenge we have before us, is to tackle it that way.”

Postecoglou was left with some late concerns after captain Son Heung-min limped off in the 71st minute before Archie Gray appeared in pain late on.

Johnson was also withdrawn at half time after he continued his rich vein of form, but the Australian played down concerns.

“I haven’t spoke to him. He said he felt a bit tired, but I haven’t spoken to him or the medical team yet,” Postecoglou said of Son.

“Yeah Brennan’s fine. It was just tactical. I thought we would need Deki Kulusevski because the way the game is going, Deki is a like a hybrid midfielder and can also break out on that right wing. It was just a tactical switch, but Brennan is fine.”

Solanke made it back-to-back goals with a slick finish in the 68th-minute after Son’s shot had been spilled and earned the praise of his manager after a selfless display in attack.

“He is getting there and probably played longer than I wanted for him to play tonight, just the circumstances of the game, but the one thing about him is he just keeps going,” Postecoglou reflected.

“Great for him to get another goal but his all-round performance was really strong.

“When you’re down to 10 men, you need your striker to be able to hold up the play and do some hard running, which I thought he did.”

Qarabag's Julio Romao, left, and Tottenham's Son Heung-min fight for the ball. AP

Kick off was delayed by 35 minutes after Qarabag only arrived a short while before the scheduled 8pm start and their manager Gurban Gurbanov revealed they had been stuck on the team bus for two-and-a-half hours.

Gurbanov said: “Imagine being caught in traffic for two-and-a-half hours? I don’t want to make excuses, but it shouldn’t have happened because we had to come by ourselves.

“We had no police to escort us and obviously it had a big impact on our footballers, but it doesn’t take anything away from our opponent. They were a good team.”

Fenerbahce and Rangers score early wins

Fenerbahce opened the competition with a 2-1 home win over Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise with both teams finishing the game with 10 men.

Defender Caglar Soyuncu opened the scoring for Jose Mourinho's team in the 26th minute with a half-volley from close range and Christian Burgess' own goal in the 82nd made it 2-0 for Fenerbahce. Ross Sykes scored in stoppage time for the visitors.

Union defender Kevin Mac Allister received a red card in the 74th minute and Fenerbahce substitute Bright Osayi-Samuel was sent off in the final minute.

Last season, Fenerbahce eliminated Union in the last 16 of the third-tier Europa Conference League.

Europe's second tier is a familiar turf for Mourinho, who led Manchester United to the 2017 title. He took the Fenerbahce job in the summer. With Mourinho in charge, Roma lost the 2023 final to Sevilla after a penalty shoot-out.

In another early game, Rangers won 2-0 at Swedish side Malmo.

The 2022 Europa League beaten finalist didn’t waste time. Nedim Bajrami scored in the opening minute. Ross McCausland scored in the second half.

Rangers lost in the 2022 final to Eintracht Frankfurt. The German club played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Czech side Viktoria Plzen.

As in the Champions League, the traditional group stage of the Europa League has been replaced with an expanded league phase with all 36 teams competing in a single standings.

Each Europa League team will play eight games against eight different opponents through January 30.