Tottenham 3-0 Qarabag: “Stuck for two and a half hours” – visitors experience a European nightmare

Compared to Europe, things couldn't have turned out much worse in Qarabag.

The Azerbaijan team suffered traffic chaos, a shocking missed penalty and numerous wasted chances, while 10-man Tottenham survived countless scares to open their Europa League campaign with a win.

Despite staying just a short distance away in Stratford, Qarabag was affected by rail and road closures and arrived at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 7.45pm – just 15 minutes before scheduled kick-off – causing a delayed start until 8.35pm forced.

UEFA regulations require teams to arrive at least 75 minutes before kick-off, with violators potentially being penalized.

The London Overground, the main connection to the stadium from other parts of London, was also paralyzed, meaning thousands of fans had to walk to Liverpool Street station, two hours away.

They weren't the only ones caught, as TNT experts Peter Crouch and Glenn Hoddle had to complete the final part of the journey on foot.

Gurban Gurbanov, who manages the visiting Azerbaijan team, complained that “these things shouldn't be happening” after he had difficulty reaching the stadium from his Stratford hotel.

When asked why his side arrived so late, Gurbanov said: “Imagine being stuck in a traffic jam for more than two and a half hours. I can't just excuse myself; It shouldn’t have happened and there were no police to accompany us.”

“It had a big impact on our footballers, but it doesn’t take away from our opponents. They are a good team and we don’t close our eyes to that.”

“As soon as we arrived we were told to start in 40 minutes and we weren't as ready or prepared as we should have been. These things shouldn’t happen.”

However, the evening could have been very different after Spurs defender Radu Dragusin received a red card after just eight minutes.

Nevertheless, Spurs ultimately rallied for a 10-man win as Brennan Johnson, Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke secured victory – but the visitors will be left wondering why they failed to score on a chaotic night on the pitch.

Their 14 shots – compared to Tottenham's 10 – included misses and a terribly missed penalty as they failed to take advantage of Tottenham's sloppy defending.

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou blamed the late kick-off for his team's sloppy start.

“It just wasn’t a great start for us,” he said. “We were very passive in our passing game. Whether it was the delay in the game or whatever, but that’s no excuse.”

“A 35-minute delay delays the warm-up and delays all kinds of things, but you just have to deal with it and we have to deal with it better than we did tonight.”

“We shot ourselves in the foot and unfortunately Radu (Dragusin) paid the ultimate price. But as a team we just didn't start the game the way we wanted and needed to and didn't make it a challenging game for us.

“The response was absolutely great, but we were disappointed to find ourselves in this position.”

Spurs boss Postecoglou had late concerns after Son Heung-min limped off the pitch in the 71st minute and Archie Gray appeared to be in pain late on.

Johnson was also withdrawn at half-time after continuing his strong form, but the Australian played down concerns about the Wales international's fitness.

“I haven't spoken to him. He said he felt a little tired, but I haven't spoken to him or the medical team yet,” Postecoglou said of Son.

“Yes, Brennan is fine. It was just tactical. I thought we would need Deki Kulusevski because the way the game is going, Deki is something of a hybrid midfielder and can also break out on the right wing. “It was just a tactical change, but.” Brennan is fine.