Gareth Bale opened scoring for Tottenham
REUTERS
Tottenham Hotspur trounced a sorry Inter Milan 3-0 in the Europa League
on Thursday while last year's European champions Chelsea were humbled
1-0 by Steaua Bucharest after being stung by a Raul Rusescu penalty.
Former European champions Benfica beat Girondins Bordeaux 1-0 thanks to
an unlucky own goal and Lazio won 2-0 at VfB Stuttgart in other last 16
first leg ties.
Fenerbahce won 1-0 at Czech side Viktoria Plzen and the Levante-Rubin
Kazan tie finished goalless.
Tottenham and Inter were meeting for the first time since the 2010-11
group stage when Inter raced into a 4-0 lead at the San Siro, before a
Gareth Bale hat-trick in second half brought it back to 4-3.
Spurs then beat Inter 3-1 in return game.
Inter, fourth in Serie A, have been spectacularly inconsistent this
season and suffered one of their off-nights, shoddy in defence and
toothless up front.
Tottenham went ahead after only six minutes when man-of-the-moment Bale
scored a rare headed goal, taking his tally to 10 for Spurs in his last
eight matches
Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson added the second from close range
in the 18th minute after Jermaine Defoe's shot on the turn was parried
by keeper Samir Handanovic.
Bale was booked for diving and will miss the second leg, but Tottenham
may not need him after Jan Vertonghen headed a third from a
poorly-defended corner early in the second half.
Antonio Cassano, briefly banned by Inter following a furious
dressing-room row, was restored to the side but failed to make an
impact.
"It was a very good performance and a great night of European football
for us. At halftime we thought we could have gone further, they had a
couple of chances but we had so many opportunities we played really well
and deserved to win," said Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas.
"They are going through their best phase of the season and to conceded
two goals at the start of the game penalised my team," said his opposite
number Andrea Stramaccioni.
"We did not want that to happen. Gareth Bale is a great player, but
tonight was a great night for their team and Tottenham deserved what
they got as a team."
Chelsea, who ended up in the competition after becoming the first
titleholders to be eliminated in the Champions League group stage, are
in danger of a second European exit of the season after losing in front
of a full house at Bucharest's National Stadium.
Steaua, European champions in 1986, scored the only goal when Ryan
Bertrand was penalised for impeding Rusescu at the far post and the
24-year-old forward stepped up to fire the penalty in the 34th minute.
Despite the setback, Chelsea's interim manager Rafa Benitez was
confident his team will overcome the setback in the second leg.
"In these kind of games and this kind of competition, if you don't
score away it's always more difficult. Still, you have to believe,"
Benitez said.
"We are disappointed, but still we have the belief we will win at
home."
Benfica edged Bordeaux thanks to an unlucky own goal by Cedric
Carrasso, Rodrigo's shot bouncing off the crossbar and hitting the
visiting goalkeeper to ricochet into the net.
Lazio overcame Stuttgart with goals in each half from Brazilian Ederson
and Nigeria midfielder Ogenyi Onazi, who picked up the ball in his own
half, advanced almost unchallenged and chipped the ball over Sven
Ulreich.
Goalkeeper Rob Elliot made a brilliant second-half save from Cameroon
forward Samuel Eto'o as Newcastle United held out for a dour goalless
draw in bitterly cold conditions away to Anzhi.
With the temperature well below zero, Anzhi started brightly but lost
momentum after Brazilian playmaker Willian, signed from Shakhtar Donetsk
for 35 million euros ($45.79 million) at the start of February, went
off injured after 22 minutes.
Zenit were also goalless until the last 10 minutes at Basel, then
Chilean midfielder Marcelo Diaz scored from close range for the Swiss
champions.
Veteran Alexander Frei converted a stoppage time penalty for a foul on
Mohamed Salah by Luis Neto, who was also sent off.
Cameroon forward Pierre Webo scored an 81st minute goal to give
Turkey's Fenerbahce a 1-0 win at Plzen.
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