Young Boys Tottenham 2:Tottenham survived a humiliating first half-hour of Champions League football tonight as Sebastien Bassong and Roman Pavyluchenko turned their play-off round tie against Young Boys on its head.
Spurs suffered a nightmare start to their first European Cup tie for almost half a century, their unfancied Swiss hosts tearing their hapless defence to shreds in the opening 28 minutes at the Stade de Suisse.
But with their hopes of reaching the lucrative group stage hanging by a thread, Bassong and Pavyluchenko scored two priceless away goals ahead of next Wednesday’s second leg at White Hart Lane.
Every one of Harry Redknapp’s four changes from Saturday’s Premier League opener against Manchester City backfired in the first half, with Pavyluchenko, Giovani dos Santos, Wilson Palacios and Bassong all well off the pace.
The visitors had been heavy favourites to progress over two legs, though Young Boys’ shock win at Fenerbahce in the last round meant they were not to be underestimated. And they immediately proved as much during a frantic opening in which Tottenham were all at sea.
Lulic struck the post in the second minute, Benoit Assou-Ekotto was booked in the fourth, and Young Boys were ahead seconds later. Thierry Doubai’s long-range shot hit the back of Ammar Jemal and fell kindly for Lulic to sidefoot home.
Spurs’ shocking defending continued and they were 2-0 down in the 13th minute when stand-in captain Michael Dawson slipped near the halfway line, allowing Bienvenu a clear run on goal and which ended with a neat finish.
Defoe somehow failed to connect with a wonderful Pavyluchenko cross, before Spurs conceded a third in the 28th minute. The visitors were undone by a simple sliderule pass from Moreno Costanzo and Hochstrasser made no mistake to blast the ball over the onrushing Gomes.
Tottenham desperately needed to score and Bassong came up trumps three minutes from half-time, his towering header from Gareth Bale’s corner beating boyhood Spurs fan Scott Sutter on the line. Defoe also went close with a header as Spurs ended the half on top.
Redknapp threw on Niko Kranjcar for Luka Modric during the break and Spurs certainly made a better start to the second half than they had the first. Pavyluchenko dwelt on Kranjcar’s inside pass 12 yards out, then poked Bale’s wicked cross over the bar from half the distance.
The hosts were now looking to hit Spurs on the break and almost did so to devastating effect 12 minutes from time when Schneuwly’s first-time shot whistled over the bar.
It proved costly for the hosts as Pavyluchenko finally came good seven minutes from time to get Tottenham well and truly back into the tie. The Russian dummied Vedran Corluka’s ball and Keane picked out his resulting run, from which he lashed the ball past Wolfli at the near post.
Champions League play-offs first legs
Dynamo Kiev 1-1 Ajax
Rosenborg 2-1 FC Copenhagen
Sparta Prague 0-2 MSK Zilina
Young Boys 3-2 Tottenham
Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 Auxerre
*Dutch giants Ajaxwere held 1-1 by Dynamo Kievin the first leg of their Champions League qualifying play-off in Ukraine tonight. The four-time European champions took the lead in the 57th minute, a minute after Dynamo were reduced to 10 men.
Denys Garmash was ordered off for a second bookable offence, a foul on Jan Vertonghen. And Ajax made them pay when Demy de Zeeuw’s free-kick picked out Vertonghen who headed home, only to let in an equaliser nine minutes later when Oleh Gusev fired home.
Russian league leaders Zenit St Petersburgwill carry a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their play-off against French side Auxerre,thanks to Aleksandr Kerzhakov's header in the third minute.
Steffen Iversen and Markus Henriksen scored for Rosenborgas they beat FC Copenhagen2-1. The Danes pinched a late consolation through Jesper Gronkjaer to give themselves hope ahead of the second leg, when they will have home advantage.
Slovakian side Zilinaput themselves into a strong position to qualify for the group stages for the first time in their history as they seized a 2-0 lead against Sparta Prague.Momodou Ceesay fired Zilina in front after 51 minutes and the lead was doubled when Tomas Oravec headed home in the 73rd minute.