Van der Vaart central as Spurs beat Twente 4-1

Posted Thursday, September 30, 2010 by

LONDON (AP)—Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring for Tottenham before getting sent off in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over FC Twente, the English club’s first ever victory in the Champions League.

The Netherlands international, who also missed a first-half penalty, put Tottenham ahead two minutes after halftime before getting a second yellow card in the 61st minute for a high challenge on Roberto Rosales.

But Roman Pavlyuchenko clinched victory over the Dutch champion with two more penalties, scoring either side of a 56th-minute goal by Nacer Chadli. Gareth Bale completed the win with five minutes left.

Tottenham moves to four points from two Group A games in its first season in the Champions League. It next plays at defending champion Inter Milan on Oct. 20.

Van der Vaart was central to most of Tottenham’s good work in a first half dominated by the London side, continually dropping deep to swap positions with Tom Huddlestone and prompt moves from just in front of the defense.

He harried opponents and covered huge amounts of ground in a strong all-round performance, which his teammates continued in his absence— counterattacking swiftly and defending resolutely.

Van der Vaart set up an 11th-minute shot for Pavlyuchenko, had a low shot saved by goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov, had an overhead kick saved on the line and watched Mihaylov push his fierce drive over the bar.

But the midfielder, who was only signed from Real Madrid last month, was jeered by Twente fans for his previous association with Dutch powerhouse Ajax— where he played for five years.

The loudest abuse came in the 39th as he prepared to take a penalty awarded for Peter Wisgerhof’s foul on Peter Crouch. Mihaylov was booked for delaying the taking of the penalty and then guessed correctly to dive right and push Van der Vaart’s kick past the post.

Van der Vaart got some measure of revenge when he controlled Crouch’s header with his chest, turned and smashed a shot high into the net from about 12 meters (yards), but any satisfaction ended with the red card.

Van der Vaart reacted with incredulity to what he thought was a harsh second yellow card by referee Terje Hauge, with Rosales crashing heavily into advertising hoardings at the side of the field because of his own speed as much as Van der Vaart’s challenge.

The score was 2-1 when Tottenham went down to 10 men, Pavlyuchenko having scored following a late sliding tackle by Rosales on Bale and Chadli knocking in a close-range rebound.

Twente had appeals for a penalty turned down following an apparent handball by Crouch before Pavlyuchenko got his second goal in the 64th after Hauge gave a penalty for handball on the advice of his linesman.

Both teams had chances to add to the scoring but 10-man Tottenham made it 4-1 when Bale completed a counterattack, carrying the ball into the area and scoring with a composed shot low at the near post.