Hoffenheim 2 – 3 Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur rocketed into the top eight of the Europa League after holding off Hoffenheim to win 3-2 away from home.

Ange Postecoglou’s side were teetering in ninth place heading into Thursday’s game but are now poised to avoid the two-legged play-off to reach the last 16 after moving up to fourth.

Tottenham play their final game of the league stage at home to Elfsborg on January 30, while they have a one-point advantage over the teams looking to progress automatically, with Postecoglou stating it is a “good position to be in” after the fight.

“It gives us a great chance to get one of the top eight places, which would give us a week off – it’s almost as good as getting through,” he said. TNT Sports.

“It’s a great position for us to be in – we want to finish in the top eight because it gives us that extra week of respite from the schedule we had.

“We’ll probably need it around that time, so that’s a big incentive.”

James Maddison’s superb effort in the third minute and Heung-Min Son’s deflected shot 20 minutes later put Tottenham in control, but it was a tale of two halves as Hoffenheim came forward in waves after the restart.

The pressure looked like it would pay off after Brandon Austin was adjudged to have fouled Max Moerstedt in the penalty area, only for VAR to overturn the decision, but the breakthrough would come just seconds later.

Anton Stach poked the ball into the net – with hopes of a comeback high – until it was quickly met by Son, who bundled his second effort of the evening into the far corner.

But in traditional Tottenham fashion, there was later than late drama.

David Mokwa Ntusu’s header moments after coming off the bench capped a tantalizing finish in Germany, where the hosts pushed Tottenham, who had replaced the experienced heads of Son and Maddison with teenagers Callum Olusesi and Will Lankshear, right to the end.

Tottenham held on by the slimmest of margins and are now snapping their run of three games without a win in Europe, but their makeshift defence, which included Archie Gray at left-back, made it work for them.

Postecoglou: Winning in Europe is not easy – ask Man City!

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou speaks to TNT Sports:

“It’s not easy to get away wins in Europe – I watched the Champions League last night and there was only one away win, so it’s tough.

“Credit to the lads. I thought it was an excellent first half, played really well. We looked a bit tired in the second half but we hung on and Sonny scored the extra goal to give us that extra buffer.

“We had the schoolboys out there at the end and it was a great win.”

Who would Tottenham play at the moment?

Tottenham are currently in fourth place, which means that if they remained in this position, they would come at the end of the league phase, go straight into the round of 16 and meet the winners of the play-off match between 13th, 14th, 19th and 20.

The teams currently in these positions are Rangers (13th), AZ Alkmaar (14th), Fenerbahce (19th) and Besiktas (20th).

When is the Europa League knockout stage?

Knockout Playoffs: 13 February and 20 February 2025
Round of 16: 6 March and 13 March 2025
Quarter-finals: 10 April and 17 April 2025
Semi-finals: 1 May and 8 May 2025
Final: 21 May 2025

The history of the match in statistics

What’s happening in the Europa League?