PARIS: Tottenham Hotspur got the better of Shamrock Rovers in their Europa League Group A encounter on Thursday, but only after the League of Ireland side had taken a shock second-half lead at White Hart Lane.
Stephen Rice sent the huge travelling support into raptures when he deflected a Gary Twigg shot past Spurs ‘keeper Carlo Cudicini five minutes into the second-half.
The goal had come completely against the run of play, and the Premier League aristocrats were back level 10 minutes later when Roman Pavlyuchenko headed home from point-blank range.
Within six minutes, Jermaine Defoe and Giovani Dos Santos had also netted to complete the turnaround as Spurs ran out 3-1 winners to go level with Rubin Kazan – who drew 2-2 with PAOK Salonika earlier in the day – on four points atop the group.Paris Saint-Germain have been tipped as one of the favourites to win the competition, but they were beaten 2-0 away to Athletic Bilbao.
First-half goals from Igor Gabilondo and Markel Susaeta gave the Spanish side a second win in Group F, while Mohamed Sissoko was sent-off to complete a miserable day for the French league leaders.
Earlier, seven of their followers were arrested following disturbances in Bilbao.
Shop windows were broken and chairs were thrown from cafes near San Mames, while one man is accused of hitting a policeman over the head with a chair.
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