Connections - Portugal, part 1

When Tottenham meet Benfica in the Europa League next week it with be the sixth time we have met Portuguese opposition, from four different clubs, in European competition.
The most famous encounter was the European Cup Semi-Final in 1962 and we will look at that epic clash later in the week. In addition several Portuguese players have worn the Tottenham shirt along with other connections.

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After Benfica the second side we met was in March 1973.Vitoria Setubal came to White Hart Lane in the Quarter Final of the UEFA Cup. It was a good homecoming for Tottenham as we had won the League Cup at Wembley the previous weekend. Vitoria defended well and Tottenham were struggling to break down the defence. Then in the 67th minute Nicholson took off Gilzean and replaced him with Ray Rvans. Ray who had not even been in the squad the weekend before was by nature a defender. Nicholson’s move worked as within five minutes a Chivers long throw was met by Martin Peters and Evans with the aid of the post scored the only goal of the night. In the second leg they scored after 20 minutes and then took the lead just after the hour. Martin Chivers struck back within five minutes to level on the night and Tottenham progressed on away goals.

Helder Posteiga (right) joined us from Porto and made just 24 appearances for Tottenham, half of those where from the bench and he scored twice. After one season he returned to Porto in the deal that brought Pendro Mendes to Tottenham.

Last summer he joined Valencia as replacement for Soldado. At Tottenham he won 6 full caps with 2 goals and at Under 21 level another 5 caps and 3 goals.

1. After his first goal V Manchester City in the League Cup he threw his shirt to the crowd and was booked.

It was his old club Porto that we played in the 1991/92 European Cup Winners Cup, Second Round. We were draw away in the first leg but UEFA reversed the draw as Arsenal were playing in Lisbon the same night. Gary Lineker and Gordon Durie put us two up before they got an away goal a few minutes into the second half. Lineker got his second in the last ten minutes to give us something to defend in the second leg. The return saw Tottenham deliver a find defensive display as Porto hit the woodwork and went close as Spurs played out only their third 0-0 draw in European games and went through. Incidentally Arsenal were knocked out.

We also played Porto in 2005 as part of our pre-season at the Lane. Defoe getting both of our goals in our 2-0 win.

Pedro Mendes (top image) will always be remembered in England for the goal that never was and for bringing goal line technology closer. His shot from about 50 yards at Manchester United wasn’t given (1). He spent 18 months with Spurs featuring in 36 games and adding 1 goal, before moving to Portsmouth.

At International level, a quick look at the England stats and Bill Nicholson scored for England against Portugal in 1958. One of the quickest goals on record (2). Aaron Lennon played against them in the 2006 World Cup and Steve Perryman was sent off in a Under 23’s international.

2. Cristian Ceballos

We currently have Cristian Ceballos on loan at Arouca, they play in the Portuguese Premier League. Cristian is a 21 year old Spaniard who joined us in 2011. Seen as one of Europe’s hottest young talents at the time, it was reported we paid a million pounds for him. Hopefully he is learning his trade and will return to us in the summer. Until last weekend he had played 869 minutes of football this season with ten starts and four from the bench. In last weeks 2-1 win over Braga he scored one and made the other(3).

Notes 1 - Next, Manchester United,  29/11/13
2- Bill Nicholson p2, 20/1/14
3.Windys.com

Acknowledgments in part 2.  Images - Top & 1 - BBC,  2- THOS

About the author:
Keith Harrison, Nilgiris, TN
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