Paços de Ferreira secure stunning victory over Tottenham Hotspur

Pacos de Ferreira pulled off an impressive shock by defeating English Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa Conference League playoff tie.

Spurs, coached by Nuno Espirito Santo, fielded a heavily rotated side featuring many younger players, but still went into the match as favourites against Jorge Simao’s side.

Nevertheless, Pacos grew into the game and were more than a match for Spurs, and took the lead just before half time thanks to a calm finish from Lucas Silva after a perfect throughball from Nuno Santos.

Tottenham, however, were expected to come back into the game - but failed to do so, with little experience to turn to on the bench after Nuno elected to leave most of the team’s senior players at home.

Tottenham will still be comfortable favourites to go through in this tie, likely to get the job done comfortably in the second leg when they will be able to call upon some more experienced players in front of a home crowd, but this will undoubtedly be a night that is savoured for years to come for Pacos supporters.

Harry Winks. Photo author: Steffen Prößdorf. License link.