Wolfsberger AC coach Ferdinand Feldhofer was disappointed to lose 4-1 to a ‘world-class’ Tottenham Hotspur side during the first leg of their Europa League round-of-32 clash, as he told Laola1.
Spurs have made a habit of scoring early and then throwing away leads this season.
But there was to be no repeat of that oh-so frustrating habit in Austria, with three first-half goals of the very highest quality all-but securing Spurs’ place in the last 16.
Gareth Bale produced the finest performance of his second spell at the London giants, setting up Heung-Min Son’s smart opener before winding the clock back to 2010 with a moment of genius to put Tottenham 2-0 up.
Lucas Moura then weaved through a dizzied Wolfsberger defence to all-but put the tie to bed, with Carlos Vinicius coming off the bench to net a fourth after the hosts had threatened a fightback thanks to Michael Liendl’s 55th-minute penalty.
“Big compliments to the guys for the morale they have shown,” said Feldhofer at full-time.
“But we are all aware that if you want to compete against such a world-class team, everything really has to fit together.
“The first goal (from Son) removed a bit of our courage. They didn’t let us breathe for a second. They wanted to dominate the first half, and they succeeded for a long time.
“We changed in the second half. We made it a bit more difficult for the opponent.”
As Feldhofer himself says, Wolfsberger responded well to going 3-0 down before the interval and Jose Mourinho’s heart would have been beating that little bit faster when the Austrians hit the bar moments after pulling a goal back.
But, with Bale, Lucas and the seldom-seen Dele Alli offering a timely reminder of their supreme talents, one of the competition’s favourites are one step closer to a first European crown since 1984.
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