PARIS: Antonio Conte’s first game in charge of Tottenham Hotspur had five first-half goals, three red cards and a glimpse of the challenge he faces at the London club.

Tottenham held on for a 3-2 home win over Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League on Thursday after nearly giving up a three-goal lead in Conte’s debut. The Italian was appointed Spurs new manager following Nuno Espirito Santo’s dismissal on Monday.

Former Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho also avoided another embarrassment as AS Roma scored a late equaliser to draw 2-2 at home against Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt who had routed the Italians 6-1 at home in the previous round.

The stalemate left Roma one point adrift of Bodo/Glimt in Group ‘C’.

Conte seemed to have already given Tottenham a much-needed spark as his team led 3-0 after just 28 minutes, but Vitesse pulled two goals back before halftime. Spurs then had defender Cristian Romero sent off in the 59th and were under pressure until Vitesse had two players red-carded in the final 10 minutes.

Son Heung-min, who scored the first goal of both Jose Mourinho’s and Nuno’s reigns, did the same for Conte in the 14th minute before Lucas Moura and a Jacob Rasmussen own goal seemingly had the hosts in total control.

“It was a crazy game and usually I don’t like these types of games,” Conte said. “For sure we were winning 3-0 and then we conceded two goals that we can avoid and then after a red card we were in trouble. But I think to win is good for this team, it’s good for these players and they need to improve their confidence.”

Tottenham are second in Group ‘G’, three points behind Rennes, who beat Slovenian side Mura 1-0.

In Group ‘E’, Dutch team Feyenoord beat Union Berlin 2-1 in a game with a heavy police presence after the disturbances in connection with the previous game in Rotterdam. Police made at least 74 arrests in the run-up to the match, which began under a of smoke from flares set off before kickoff by the visiting fans.

LYON, FRANKFURT, WEST HAM ADVANCE

Olympique Lyonnais and Eintracht Frankfurt became the first teams to advance to the knoc­kout rounds of the Europa League after both earned victories.

Lyon scored three second-half goals, including two by Islam Slimani, to beat Sparta Prague 3-0 for a fourth straight win in Group ‘A’. Rangers drew 1-1 at Brondby and are level on four points with Sparta Prague who they face next.

Eintracht Frankfurt reached the last 16 after a 2-1 victory at Olympiakos courtesy of a stoppage-time goal by Jens Petter Hauge. The German club are four points clear of the Greek side in Group ‘D’.

A late own-goal prevented David Moyes from marking his 1,000th career match as a manager with a victory as West Ham United were held to a 2-2 draw by Genk.

It ended West Ham’s perfect record in Group ‘H’ but Moyes’ team still clinched a spot in the knockout rounds after Dinamo Zagreb beat Rapid Vienna 3-1 in the late game.

Said Benrahma had scored twice as West Ham came from behind to lead 2-1 in in Belgium but substitute Tomas Soucek inadvertently headed a late cross inside the near post to leave the Hammers with just a point.

Napoli moved top of Group ‘C’ with a 4-1 win away to Legia Warsaw having fallen behind after 10 minutes while Leicester City drew 1-1 at home to Spartak Moscow and stay third, two points behind Napoli.

Monaco top Group ‘B’ with eight points after a 0-0 draw at home to PSV Eindhoven while in Group ‘G’ Bayer Leverkusen breezed past Real Betis 4-0 with Moussa Diaby scoring twice.

They lead the section on 10 points with Betis on seven. Celtic boosted their hopes of making progress as they beat Ferencvaros 3-2 away to reach six points.

A four-goal thriller that ended 2-2 between Olympique de Marseille and Lazio left Group ‘E’ as it was at the start of the evening as Galat­asaray were held 1-1 by Lokomotiv Moscow. The Turkish giants lead the section on eight points, three clear of Lazio with Marseille one further back.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2021