A 43rd-minute penalty from Dominic Solanke sent Tottenham through to the Europa League semi-finals with a 2-1 aggregate win over Eintracht Frankfurt to keep their season alive and ease the pressure on Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs were back in the last-chance saloon and up against it at Deutsche Bank Park after a 1-1 draw in the first leg last Thursday, but produced one of their best displays under Postecoglou to ensure his tenure goes on.
Solanke’s spot-kick two minutes before half-time settled the tie and was won after vice-captains Cristian Romero and James Maddison combined.
The journey continues. pic.twitter.com/6ULGTec4ER
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) April 17, 2025
It was Solanke’s first goal in 12 matches and even though Tottenham missed opportunities after the break, they admirably held on to earn a first last-four spot in this competition in 41 years.
Postecoglou had admitted to having “no idea” if he would still be in a job after this tie on Wednesday, but can now focus on a two-legged semi-final in May with his team still on course to win the club its first trophy in 17 years.
With captain Son Heung-min ruled out, Bayern Munich loanee Tel got the nod back in Germany and while Tottenham were warned they would walk into the lion’s den at Deutsche Bank Park, they navigated the opening stages and the hosts lost Mario Gotze to injury after 17 minutes.
Hugo Ekitike had caused Spurs one moment of concern by this point only for Micky van de Ven to crucially slide in and yet another French forward started to make an impact.
Tel scuffed wide from a Brennan Johnson cutback in the 20th-minute before six minutes later he let fly from 25-yards and forced Kaua Santos into a flying save.
Guglielmo Vicario had held a simple header from Frankfurt substitute Fares Chaibi moments before, but had largely been untroubled when Tottenham won a penalty at the end of the first half.
Romero played his part with a brilliant ball over the top for Maddison, who tried to head over Kaua and got taken out by the Frankfurt goalkeeper.
As both players got treatment, referee Massa was sent to the VAR monitor and pointed to the spot much to the fury of the stunned home supporters.
Tel initially had the ball, but gave it to Solanke at the last moment and the £65million forward ended his 12-game drought with a clever chipped penalty before the Spurs players celebrated in front of Frankfurt’s noisy standing section.
Maddison had to be replaced soon after by Dejan Kulusevski, but Tottenham survived six minutes of stoppage time before they came under siege at the start of the second period.
Substitute Chaibi curled a free-kick wide from 35 yards before an Ekitike shot on the turn was blocked by Lucas Bergvall.
Frankfurt boss Dino Toppmoller had seen enough though and sent on Can Uzun in the 58th minute before Spurs went close again.
Johnson combined with Kulusevski, who had a shot deflected wide before Romero headed inches wide from Pedro Porro’s resulting corner.
Tottenham continued to perfectly combine defence with attack in a way which had not been seen enough this season with a Tel effort curled over followed by a Rodrigo Bentancur header off target.
Frankfurt had penalty appeals waved away soon after as Romero got the ball during a coming together with Ekitike before Vicario was called into action.
Rasmus Kristensen got in behind the Spurs defence and picked out Chaibi, but Vicario made a superb point-blank save and the follow-up cross was headed wide by Kristensen.
As the seconds ticked away Frankfurt upped the ante and Kristensen sent another effort off target with eight minutes left before Postecoglou introduced Kevin Danso as the visitors went to three at the back.
It was backs-to-the-wall now for Tottenham, but they stood firm to survive six minutes of stoppage time and delight their 2,800 travelling fans with big full-time celebrations as the club secured only its second European semi-final since they won the UEFA Cup in 1984.
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