Tottenham fall to Benfica 3-1 at home in their first leg Europa League last-16 clash

     Tottenham fell to a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Benfica in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 clash at White Hart Lane, leaving Tottenham’s hopes of a trophy hanging by a thread.

     The Benfica started the match brightly and had threatened to break in behind Spurs a few times in the first-half, and Miralem Sulejmani played a fine pass in behind Kyle Naughton for Rodrigo, who cut in from the right and finished low past Hugo Lloris in the 29th minute.Tim Sherwood's men struggled to impose themselves in the opening 45 minutes, and Benfica captain Luisao strolled into the six-yard box completely unchallenged and glanced a header into the net from a well-placed corner just before the hour mark.Christian Eriksen gave the hosts hope just five minutes later, thumping a 25-yard free kick past Jan Oblak after Silvio cynically brought down a marauding Harry Kane, though the fightback never materialised.Things got worse for the Premier League club as Lloris weak punch from a header fell kindly to Luisao, who gladly accepted the gift and slammed the ball into the net with seven minutes left to leave Spurs' European dreams hanging by the thread- while Sherwood rowed by Benfica staff following the third goal.

     This result has left tottenham with the hard task of going to Portugal to produce nothing less than a fantastic display in order for them to have any chance of going through the last-16.