Orsic Hat-trick Send Mourinho’s Tottenham Out Of Europa League
Tottenham were dumped out of the Europa League as Mislav Orsic’s stunning hat-trick sealed a remarkable 3-0 win for Dinamo Zagreb to heap pressure on Jose Mourinho.
Spurs held a 2-0 aggregate advantage ahead of the second leg in Croatia thanks to Harry Kane’s brace last week, but they suffered a spectacular collapse against a side whose coach, Zoran Mamic, resigned on Monday after he was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for fraud.
Orsic’s first came shortly after the hour mark courtesy of a fine strike from outside the penalty area and the Croatia international forced extra time with a cool finish in the 82nd minute.
His best was yet to come, though, the striker scoring a glorious solo goal after 106 minutes to seal Dinamo’s progression to the quarter-finals and leave Mourinho with some tough questions to answer.
The opening period offered no indication of the drama that was to come, with Dinamo’s best chance falling to Lovro Majer in the 35th minute as he dragged narrowly wide of Hugo Lloris’ right-hand post after the ball had fallen kindly for him inside the penalty area.
Tottenham struggled to get going and had to wait until a minute before the interval for their first attempt on target, Dominik Livakovic denying Kane after a fluid move involving Lucas Moura and Dele Alli.
Spurs scarcely improved after the break and deservedly fell behind after 62 minutes when Orsic cut in from the left and curled a superb strike into the top-right corner from 20 yards.
Orsic struck again with eight minutes remaining, stealing in unmarked to slot home Iyayi Atiemwen’s low cross from 12 yards, although only a smart stop from Livakovic denied Kane grabbing an aggregate winner for Spurs shortly after.
The final twist in the tale came when Orsic swept past three Tottenham players before curling beyond Lloris’ reach from outside the penalty area a minute into the second half of extra time.
Kane came close to rescuing his side inside the final five minutes but it would have been undeserved as Dinamo left Spurs’ hopes of European glory in ruin.
