Ahead of a crucial second-leg showdown in the Europa League, Tottenham Hotspur will be without Rodrigo Bentancur, who is suspended after picking up a booking in the first-leg defeat to AZ Alkmaar.
Prior to Tottenham’s round-of-16 first-leg clash against AZ Alkmaar, it was made clear that a quartet of Spurs players were walking a disciplinary tightrope.
Four names stood out—Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, Yves Bissouma, and Dejan Kulusevski—all at risk of suspension with one more booking.
Yves Bissouma was an unused substitute on the night, avoiding any risk, while Dejan Kulusevski was absent entirely due to a foot injury. That left Bentancur and Bergvall among those in the starting XI who had to tread carefully to ensure availability for the return leg.
Given the stakes and the intensity of the contest, it was always going to be a challenge to keep discipline in check. Unfortunately for Spurs, Bentancur was unable to escape the referee’s book.
Rodrigo Bentancur booked, Spurs dealt a suspension blow
During Thursday night’s clash against Alkmaar, Rodrigo Bentancur was shown a yellow card, his third of the tournament.
Under UEFA Europa League regulations, accumulating three bookings leads to an automatic one-match suspension, ruling him out of the second leg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Ange Postecoglou will now have to reshuffle his midfield, and with Bentancur out, the responsibility could fall on Yves Bissouma or Pape Matar Sarr to step up and fill the void.
Spurs chasing the tie after first-leg setback
The Lilywhites now face an uphill battle, having suffered a narrow loss against their Dutch counterparts. AZ Alkmaar finally managed to get the better of Postecoglou’s side at the second time of asking, after Spurs had previously beaten them in the League Phase of the competition.
With a place in the quarter-finals at stake, Tottenham must find a way to cope without one of their most experienced midfielders in what promises to be a tense second-leg encounter in North London.