Connections - Spain 3

In this article we look at one of the Spaniards who played for Tottenham and another European encounter.

 Getafe came to White Hart Lane in the UEFA Cup in October 2007. At that time teams only met each other once at this point of the competition. Tottenham were having a poor time and it had been decided that Martin Jol would leave the club and the news was leaked just before the game.

---

The Spanish side had also started the season badly and sat near the foot of the table. Tottenham started the night poorly but Defoe gave them the lead before they equalized two minutes later. 

Just over twenty six thousand were present for the opening group  match and they did their best to lift the Spurs. Possibly summing up how Spurs were faring at the time Defoe and Berbatov both missed good chances and Berbatov had a goal disallowed before the visitors won the game in the seventy minute.
A sad night all-round and only Real Madrid had previously won at White Hart Lane in European competition.  Tottenham would however progress second in the group behind the Spaniards.

Left - Getafe  match action.

Few Spaniards have played for Spurs, one them was Iago Falque, (top, a good prospect when we signed him who has  started as a youth player with both Real Madrid and Barcelona before starting as a senior player with Juventus but was loaned to Bari. 

---

He moved to Spurs in July 2011.His debut came in the Europa League game away to PAOK of Greece. He waited until the December for his league debut, a late substitute at Everton.

Eighteen months after signing for us he went to Southampton on loan and played one game. He returned to Spurs and scored in pre-season V Stevenage before moving to Almeria on another loan. Here he had better luck playing 22 games as they won promotion. The following season we loaned him yet again, this time to Rayo Vallecano. Then at the start of 2014/15 he moved on a permanent transfer to Genoa having made just eleven appearances for Spurs. Since then he has played for Roma and Torino.

Before he arrived at Spurs he had played for the Galicia ‘national’ team (who are not affiliated to either FiFa or UEFA) against Iran. Galicia is an autonomous community in the North Western part of mainland Spain. He has also played for Spain from Under 17-21 level but has yet to win a full cap.

Did you know – That Dave Mackay made his international debut for Scotland V Spain and he found out he was playing whilst in the bath. The team manager knocking on the hotel rooms door and sticking head around to tell him.

---

COYS
Keith Harrison.
t- Keith 16024542
f - https://www.facebook.com/keith.harrison.9659
My profile / archive is @ http://www.indiaspurs.com/keith_harrison.html

Other International Connections can be found @
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/hotspur-towers-the-international-index