lamela-inspired spurs end monaco hopes published: thursday 10 december 2015, 23.10cet tottenham 4-1 monaco erik lamela rattled in a first-half hat-trick as spurs turned on the style to knock monaco out of europe and march into monday's draw. by andy brassell from white hart lane
tottenham win group j in emphatic style last season's uefa champions league quarter-finalists monaco out of european competition uefa europa league specialist erik lamela hits first-half hat-trick stephan el shaarawy's second goal in two games against spurs only a consolation the round of 32 draw takes place at 13.00cet on monday
already-qualified tottenham hotspur finished their uefa europa league group j campaign in fine style, sweeping aside monaco and eliminating last season's uefa champions league quarter-finalists from europe.
leonardo jardim's team arrived at white hart lane needing the combination of a victory and anderlecht dropping points against qarabağ to progress, but less than two minutes had elapsed when they went behind. clinton njié won the ball deep in monaco territory and played in ben davies. the full-back's low cross allowed erik lamela to side-foot in from close range.
monaco were penned in by their lively hosts and worse was to come, with lamela striking again on the quarter-hour. the argentinian advanced through the centre onto son heung-min's flick and his low drive squirmed under the unfortunate danijel subašic. tottenham continued to dominate. son had one goal disallowed for offside and found the side-netting with another effort before lamela completed his hat-trick in the 38th minute.
monaco lost the ball in their own half again and njié's slide-rule pass was emphatically finished by the midfielder, for his fifth goal in five group stage matches. the second period didn't begin at quite the same pace but joshua onomah was close to a fourth as subašic blocked the 18-year-old's attempt with his legs. yet monaco struck next, with stephan el shaarawy bending in a fine shot from the edge of the area after good work from substitute kylian mbappé.
spurs had the final word though. after subašic saved from njié, tom carroll picked the ball up, jinked past elderson and coolly slotted in from an uninviting angle, epitomising tottenham's excellence.
spurs: the team to avoid monday's round of 32 draw promises to throw up some great ties, with porto, manchester united and galatasaray all in the pot after transferring from the uefa champions league. yet the display of njié here underlined harry kane-less tottenham's strength-in-depth. few will fancy coming to white hart lane.
youth flourishing at the lane mauricio pochettino's faith in young players was again in evidence with onomah making his first uefa europa league start. the teenage midfielder played with skill and confidence, being integral to the powerful team showing in the first half which set the tone for the night.
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