The referee has blown his whistle to signal the end of the first half of Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League semi-final showdown with Bodø/Glimt.
Tottenham’s biggest match of the season so far has reached its halfway point. The players were welcomed onto the pitch by a tifo of the club’s slogan ‘To Dare is to Do’, and that is certainly the message needed for the next 45 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
We’ve rated each players’ first half performance on a scale of 1-10.
How the Tottenham Hotspur players have performed
Guglielmo Vicario – The Italian has struggled recently, conceding more goals than he has prevented in Tottenham’s past four Premier League matches. Tonight he has been able to remain largely unchallenged. 6
Pedro Porro – Sent in a well weighted cross in the buildup to Tottenham’s first goal. He then got the assist for the second with a fantastic ball to Maddison. Fair play to the Spaniard. He’s been criticised a lot this season, but when he’s at his best, he’s a quality player. 9
Cristian Romero – The Spurs captain played a long ball to James Maddison which could well have resulted in a goal. He has defended well when called upon and isn’t afraid to put in a tackle. 8
Micky van de Ven – Defended competently when called upon, which hasn’t been all that often so far. 7
Destiny Udogie – The attacking minded left-back got the nod over Djed Spence tonight, despite a poor showing against Liverpool. He looked lively on the wing and showed good energy in the first-half. He did get beaten in a 1v1 at the end of the half, but he’ll be pleased with his showing so far. 8
Yves Bissouma – Tried a shot which almost landed outside the stadium. Other than that, there’s not a lot to say about Bissouma. Bodø have had some good spells of possession and he hasn’t looked like preventing them from playing their game. 5.5
Rodrigo Bentancur – Almost scored a well struck volley. Not a bad performance so far for the midfielder, who has had more than 40 touches in this first-half. He’s looked much better than Bissouma, although he was caught ball watching at the end of the half when Bodo had their first real chance of the game. 8
James Maddison – Made a good run to get on the end of Romero’s ball over the top, but his finish was disappointing. However, he has helped tie things together in the midfield, dropping deep as he has often done this season. His delivery from corners has been quite good, which hasn’t always been the case. Then he got his goal, with a really good off the ball run and perfectly directed finish. A proper performance from the vice captain. 9
Brennan Johnson – Opened the scoring early to register his fourth goal of the competition, making him Tottenham’s top scorer in the Europa League. Since then he hasn’t been too involved, but ultimately, he stepped up in the first minute when it mattered. 8
Dominic Solanke – Allowed Udogie a half-chance with a good run and cut back. He hasn’t been one of the main players causing the opposition problems, but he looks good when he’s on the ball. 7
Richarlison – Assisted Tottenham’s opening goal with a lovely header. Not all his decisions have paid off, but he’s been very involved in the game. 8