Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the play-offs of the Europa League on Thursday-evening. Manager José Mourinho’s team again failed to convince and triumphed thanks to individual qualities, with a leading role for Heung-Min Son, over KF Shkëndija. Tottenham will play against Maccabi Haifa from Israel in the next round. Galatasaray also stepped off the field as the winner. Fatih Terim’s team needed two late goals to put Hajduk Split aside and will play against Willem II or Rangers FC in the next round.

KF Shkëndija – Tottenham Hotspur 1-3
Mourinho’s team only needed a little more than four minutes to take the lead in Skopje. Shkëndija’s defense lost sight of Erik Lamela when Heung-Min Son threatened to become dangerous in front of the penalty area and the free-standing Argentinian cashed the pass with a diagonal bet in the left corner: 0-1. Debutant Joe Hart had little to do in the first half, but Kostadin Zahov was a bit busier in front of the goal. A header from Toby Alderweireld went just wide and Zahov saved from close range on a bet by Dele Alli. Towards half time the North Macedonians were more assertive, but they were rarely dangerous and with an intermediate score of 0-1 the teams went into half time.

Tottenham got off to a good start in the second half, including a nice opportunity for Lamela, but it was Shkëndija who scored after 55 minutes. It was Valmir Nafiu who chased the ball from just outside the penalty area into the roof of the goal and left Hart without a chance: 1-1. It was the time for Mourinho to immediately call on his reserve bench: Giovani Lo Celso and Harry Kane replaced Harry Winks and Alli, and a few minutes later base customer Steven Bergwijn was relieved by Lucas Moura.

A good chance for Kane in the 67th minute preceded the 1-2 minutes later. Zahov reacted well to a shot from Lucas Moura, but the rebound was for Son. The South Korean then also had a share in the third hit. After a wonderful cross from the left, no one jumped higher in the air than Kane and the substitute scored with a diagonal header for the 1-3.

Galatasaray 2-0 Hajduk Split
Terim’s team had little trouble with Neftchi Baku (1-3) a lap earlier, but Hajduk was of a different caliber. Only in the 77th minute the match was unbalanced. Younes Belhanda, who came in for Ömer Bayram six minutes earlier, took the opening goal. After a low pass by Emre Tasdemir from the left, Belhanda entered the penalty area and fired the ball into the goal via the hands of keeper Josip Posavec. A few minutes before the end, the 2-0 fell. After good preparatory work by Marcao on the left, Ryan Babel, who, like Ryan Donk, was in the starting line-up and played for ninety minutes, worked the ball from close range over the goal line.