Everton and Tottenham Hotspurs, last night joined a long list of English teams that have fallen by the way side through penalty shootout.
In an incredible and dramatic night of football, the 2 teams actually got the same reverse results that they suffered in the 1st leg.
Tottenham had lost at home to PSV Eindhoven by a goal to nil and needed to win in Holland to stand any chance of going through and they played very well, creating lots of chances but unfortunately could only take 1 of them.
They scored late in the second half through their talisman Dimitar Bebatov as he finished off a good cross with a crisp volley.
In the penalty shootout, Spurs only needed to score their 5th penalty to win the tie as they had scored their previous 4 whilst PSV’s Danko Lazovic had his penalty saved by Paul Robinson.
It then came down to Jermaine Jenas to put Spurs through but his penalty was too casual and a very good height for Huerelho Gomes to make the save. Paul Robinson did try his best to put PSV through as he kept on diving before the kick was even taken making it so easy for the penalty taker to score.It came down to sudden death and Pascal Chimbonda put his penalty wide to put PSV through to the ¼ finals.
In the other tie involving an English side, Everton managed to claw back a 2 goal deficit from the 1st leg as they won by the exact score.
Everton knew they had to win by 2 clear goals or more and that is what they set out to do from the off. They were aided by an anaemic display from their guests as Fiorentina offered very little resistance in the middle of the pack and in forward positions leaving the defence to absorb so much pressure and to be fair Sebastian Frey, Alessandro Gamberini and to a lesser extent captain Dainelli did excel.
Andrew Johnson put the home side in front with a lucky deflection of his chest and in the 2nd half, Mikel Arteta made it 2-0 with a very good shot that cannoned of the post to go in.
Fiorentina created very little chances and it says more about the standard of the Italian league these days that a side like theirs that showed very little heart especially in the midfield can be 4th in the table.
Pablo Osvaldo and Giampaolo Pazzini were embarrassing in the striking positions as they just kept falling down with any hint of contact and their hold up play was just abysmal.
Everton are not the most creative side in the world and Arteta apart they have no creativity whatsoever but they still managed with very little effort to turn defence into attack with Fiorentina’s midfield being non-existent.
The game went to penalties and whilst Fiorentina scored all of theirs, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Phil Jagielka missed and had his saved by Frey respectfully.
It remains to be seen if Bolton would go to Sporting Lisbon and draw 1-1 and then lose out on penalties.
In the other ties, Bayern Munich lost at home 2-1 to Anderlecht but won through 6-2 on aggregate. Bayer Leverkusen lost 3-2 to fellow Bundesliga side Hamburg but went through on away goals scored with the tie at 3-3. Zenith Petersburg defeated Marseilles 2-0 on the night and also went through on away goals scored with the tie at 3-3. Getafe beat Benfica 1-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate.
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