Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt: Honours even in north London

Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt will have everything to play for in Germany next week after playing out a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.

Match in brief: Tight encounter ends level

Spurs and Frankfurt could not be separated in the first legGetty Images

Frankfurt were appearing in their third Europa League quarter-final in their last six seasons in the competition, and they struck after just six minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Winning possession inside their own half, the visitors quickly countered and worked the ball out to Hugo Ekitiké, who drifted in from the left flank before sweeping a low shot into the bottom-right corner.

Spurs were back on level terms 20 minutes later, with a neat move culminating in Pedro Porro cleverly flicking James Maddison's square pass beyond Kauã Santos.

Ekitiké shot straight at Guglielmo Vicario just before the break, but the hosts began the second half with purpose. Lucas Bergvall rattled the crossbar with a rasping drive and Rodrigo Bentancur's looping header also hit the woodwork, while Heung-Min Son and Maddison were both denied by Kauã Santos.

Ange Postecoglou's charges continued to carry the greater attacking threat, and Kauã Santos came to Frankfurt's rescue again deep in added time when he clawed away a Micky van de Ven header.

However, the tie remains finely poised heading into next week's second leg in Germany.

Alex Milne, reporting from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

In the end, a draw was probably a fair result. Even so, Spurs will rue not managing to take one of the many chances they created during a ten-minute blitz at the start of the second half, in which they hit the woodwork twice. These are two evenly matched teams, and we have a thrilling second leg in store in Frankfurt next week which really could go either way. Bring it on!

Reaction

Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham coach: "On any other night, we go away with a comfortable victory. If we repeat that performance, we give ourselves a chance. I don't expect the second game to be to open, it'll be cagey affair and it'll come down to moments. We're going to need all the lads ready to go. The good thing is we have most of them back and healthy, which is important."

Lucas Bergvall, Tottenham midfielder: "We played a good game, especially in the second half when we had lots of opportunities to score. Next week will probably be the biggest game of the season."

Hugo Ekitiké, Frankfurt forward: "It's a good result. We wanted the win, but we came away against a tough opponent, and did a good job. We still have the game at home to play, so we're going to focus on that, and I'm pretty confident."

Key stats

• Son made his 67th appearance in major European competitions for Tottenham, moving level with Harry Kane for the joint-most in the club's history by any player.
• Ekitiké's strike (timed at five minutes and ten seconds) was the second-earliest goal Tottenham have conceded at home in the Europa League, having conceded after five minutes and eight seconds against PAOK in November 2011.
• Ekitiké has now been involved in seven goals in 11 Europa League appearances this season (four goals, three assists).
• Maddison's assist for Pedro Porro's equaliser means he has been involved in ten goals across his 14 starts in the Europa League (five goals, five assists).
• Frankfurt attempted four shots during the first leg, their lowest total in a match in the Europa League this season.

Line-ups

Tottenham: Vicario; Pedro Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie (Spence 79); Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison (Sarr 79); Johnson, Solanke (Richarlison 88), Son (Tel 79)

Frankfurt: Kauã Santos; Kristensen, Koch, Theate, Brown (Nkounkou 90+1); Skhiri, Tuta; Götze (Can Uzun 90+1), Larsson, Bahoya (Chaibi 70); Ekitiké (Wahi 89)