Tottenham cult hero suffers ‘shameful’ European defeat after joining new club

Tottenham cult hero suffers ‘shameful’ European defeat after joining new club

Tottenham Hotspur are gearing up for a Europa League campaign this season but one former Spurs man may miss out on European action in nightmare fashion.

Ange Postecoglou secured a fifth-place finish in the Premier League last season and Europa League will be returning to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Tottenham cult hero suffers ‘shameful’ European defeat after joining new club

Tottenham Hotspur are gearing up for a Europa League campaign this season but one former Spurs man may miss out on European action in nightmare fashion.

Ange Postecoglou secured a fifth-place finish in the Premier League last season and Europa League will be returning to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Fans may be a little disappointed at missing out on the Champions League but Tottenham certainly made progress in the first season of the Postecoglou era.

Qualifiers for European tournaments are ongoing right now with Maccabi Tel Aviv and CS Petrocub winning the first leg of their Europea League qualifiers on Tuesday.

Lille, FC Midtjylland, Ludogorets and Red Bull Salzburg all won in the Champions League qualifiers but there was an unbelievable result in the Europa Conference League.

Erik Lamela suffers European nightmare

Tottenham infamously splashed the cash on a number of signings as Gareth Bale departed for Real Madrid in 2013.

Those seven signings didn’t fare too well outside of Christian Eriksen and the feeling was that Spurs wasted the Bale money.

Erik Lamela was supposed to become Tottenham’s next great winger having shown huge potential with Roma.

Lamela moved on to Sevilla in 2021, bringing an end to eight years in North London, and he chipped in with 16 goals in 92 games for Sevilla.

This summer brought another move for the winger as he headed to Greece for a surprise move to AEK Athens.

Boss Matias Almeyda knows Lamela from their River Plate days and the pair have reunited this summer.

There is already a problem though as Almeyda and Lamela suffered a humiliating defeat on Tuesday night.

AEK headed to Armenia for the first leg of their Europa Conference League qualifier against FC Noah and took the lead through Levi Garcia, as many would have expected.

The game turned from there though and AEK ended up losing 3-1 with Noah goalkeeper Ognjen Cancarevic managing to score from his own penalty area.

AEK also conceded a 97th minute goal which just makes the second leg in Athens even trickier.

FC Noah were only formed seven years ago but are now one step away from dumping AEK out before even reaching the group stage.

Lamela only came off the bench in the second half but he and his teammates now need a big performance in the second leg in order to avoid an embarrassing elimination.

Greek media react

The Greek media are unsurprisingly furious as AEK not only embarrassed themselves but also Greek football as a whole.

AEK may not only hurt their own season but also Greek football in terms of the UEFA coefficient if they are dumped out by FC Noah.

Here is a selection of reactions from Greece as AEK face criticism for all corners following Tuesday’s stunning defeat…

“In different circumstances we’d be dealing with the debuts of Erik Lamela and Roberto Pereyra, how Pineda responded as an anti-Jonsson and of course Levi Garcia’s continued scoring streak in the UEFA Conference League qualifiers, leading the way with his fifth goal of the competition. But no! AEK’s 3-1 defeat by Noa in Yerevan leaves no room to focus on the individual performances of each player, but to search for the black box of this… tragedy,” – Sportdog.

“Tonight could be simple. Write the word shame and clean up. Because what the world of AEK witnessed from Almeida and his players is shameful. A group only in words, a group without a beginning, middle and end that seems to be drowning in the problems that constantly make the issue bigger. Because it is a series of games, where AEK seems to be making leaps backwards.”

“All in all, in order to understand what is happening in AEK these days, one must be led into the realm of the inexplicable. How is it possible to find answers to things that have no logical and football explanation? How is it possible to seriously discuss a team that seems to be doing things that are inexplicable in football terms? You can’t and all this increases the concern for the sequel,” – SDNA.

“I don’t really know what frustrates me the most, because there are quite a few. The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that even Strakosha’s goal conceded by the opposing goalkeeper doesn’t depress me more than not being able to find anything positive in 100 minutes of play. Nothing!” – Sport24.