Spurs 1-3 Benfica - Tim's verdict

Tim Sherwood was left to rue conceding two goals from set-pieces which left us with an uphill task against Benfica in the Europa League, Round of 16 tie.

The Portugese giants left the Lane with a 3-1 lead in the first leg after goals from Rodrigo and a double from central defender Luisao on Thursday night.

Christian Eriksen offered us hope with another free-kick special to make it 2-1 on 64 minutes but Luisao’s second goal handed Benfica a two-goal advantage as we head to Lisbon for the second leg next Thursday, March 20.

“I thought we were fine in the first half, it was exactly what I wanted,” reflected Head Coach Tim.

“We showed good spirit, character and we were solid defensively but their first shot at goal ended up in our net and that was a body blow.

“To then concede two set-pieces in the second half was really disappointing.

“Christian showed good quality from the free-kick but we couldn’t take on that momentum. We possibly lacked a bit of guile and invention around the penalty area.

“We’ll go to Benfica and give it our all and we owe it to the fans to do that.

"We’ll have a good following over there and we’ll play with spirit and give it everything we’ve got, but obviously it’s a tall order.”