- Son scored a goal in each half to earn a crucial away win in the Europa League
- The result eases the growing pressure on Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Ruben Amorim looks desperate… it’s a last resort to publicly out your players
Ange Postecoglou blew out his cheeks as he removed his gloves with a visible air of relief as his depleted team staggered across the victory line.
On the pitch, there were players in lilywhite collapsing to the turf and stretching out tired muscles. Utterly exhausted and with nerves shredded. They had finished the game with five teenagers on the pitch and they had lived dangerously against a very ordinary Hoffenheim team.
And yet they won and that seemed to be all that mattered in the circumstances. It is a win that might prove restorative in the weeks ahead if it buys them time off.
If Spurs arrived in terrible form then Hoffenheim’s was no better. The two teams came into the game with the same miserable record of three wins in 15 games. Both are wallowing in 15th in their national leagues.
“One s*** season” as Hoffenheim’s former striker Andrej Kramaric put it recently. Tottenham might say the same although cup football offers hope and particularly this one with the prize of a Champions League place for the winners.
If Spurs are to salvage their season, they really could do with finishing in the top eight and swerving the playoff round during a time when some of their injured players are expected to return.
Son Heung-min scored twice as Tottenham earned a narrow 3-2 victory in the Europa League
And they made a strong start with Maddison’s goal in the third minute soothing anxieties as they opened up their hosts with a direct and simple move. Ben Davies won a long kick from the Hoffenheim keeper in the air, Rodrigo Bentancur passed it on to Pedro Porro who picked out the runner from midfield with a fine pass.
Maddison brought it quickly under control and applied a clean finish for his ninth goal of the season.
There were enough chances to win the game in the opening 20 minutes, but Porro and Son failed to convert the best of them. The home side grew into the game and wanted a penalty for handball against Bentancur before conceding the second.
Maddison pounced on hesitation by Kevin Akpoguma, broke out of defence and picked out Son, whose shot clipped recovering defender Pavel Kaderabek and spun over goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.
For all their threat going forward and especially on the counterattack, Spurs were still loose and vulnerable at the back and required three crucial saves from Brandon Austin before the interval. Two from shots by Max Moerstadt and the best of the trio, low to his right to deny Tom Bischof.
Radu Dragusin made an important defensive block to keep out an effort by Finn Ole Becker during this spell of pressure and yet Spurs came close to a third when Baumann scrambled across his line to keep out a header from Lucas Bergvall.
Spurs started the second half poorly, pinned back inside their own defensive third and living dangerously as Hoffenheim summoned new purpose, committing more players forward and creating chances.
Kramaric planted a header against the bar when unmarked, a chip from Anton Stach drifted narrowly wide, and there was a reprieve from the VAR after a penalty was harshly awarded against Austin.
The goalkeeper had scooped a high cross to safety over his own goal as he collided with striker Moerstadt but referee Morten Krogh pointed to the spot and Kramaric was at the top of his run about to take the kick when the belated intervention came.
Hoffenheim did pull a goal back soon afterwards, hitting Spurs on the break with a goal by Stach only to gift the initiative straight back to Tottenham with a poor pass out from the back cut out by Bentancur.
His pass to Mikey Moore was relayed to Son who produced a precision finish, arrowed low into the far corner.
There was another scare when Hoffenheim sub David Mokwa pulled one back with a header in the 88th minute. But the visitors clung on.
