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Tottenham Hotspur will face Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals of the Europa League after beating AZ 3-2 on aggregate, prevailing 3-1 in the second leg on Thursday night.
Ange Postecoglou's job would have been under serious threat had Spurs suffered an early elimination from the competition given their floundering Premier League form, but his side came up with the goods to book their spot in the next round.
Spurs made the most of a fine opening to the game by breaking the deadlock inside half an hour. Son Heung-min forced a turnover out of defender Wouter Goes, with the loose ball rolling to Dominic Solanke, and he selflessly teed up Wilson Odobert to score his first goal for the club.
Shortly after the break, Tottenham went ahead on aggregate and doubled their lead on the night. A swift breakaway saw Son cut inside off the left and lay the ball back for James Maddison who found the far corner with a fine curling effort.
The hosts ought to have had another soon after when Son combined well with Pape Matar Sarr inside the AZ box, but the South Korean dribbled the ball out of play when the time was right to shoot and the chance went begging.
The job wasn't done yet for Tottenham though and they were nearly pegged back by a clever AZ corner routine, which saw ex-Southampton midfielder Jordy Clasie roll a shot narrowly wide from 20 yards.
And Spurs were made to pay when AZ scored against the run of play. Troy Parrott, a Tottenham academy graduate, did well to hold play up, but the chance appeared to be gone when Odobert backtracked to win possession. However, Lucas Bergvall's pass inadvertently came back off the Frenchman's heels and into the path of Peer Koopmeiners, who lashed home to bring the Dutch side level.
With just over 15 minutes remaining, Tottenham went ahead on aggregate again. A flowing move from back to front saw Djed Spence scamper to the byline and cut the ball back for Solanke, whose deft flick was tapped in at the back post again by Odobert.
Guglielmo Vicario came up with a smart save to keep out Parrott and Yves Bissouma made a precious block from the rebound as Spurs clung on for victory.
GOAL rates Spurs' players from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium...
