tottenham edge thriller in braga published: friday 9 march 2007, 0.56cet sc braga 2-3 tottenham hotspur fc robbie keane's 92nd-minute winner gave tottenham the edge after braga had come from two goals down.
robbie keane's 92nd-minute winner saved tottenham hotspur fc's blushes in portugal after sc braga had come from two goals down to level.
goal feast the english visitors wasted a number of chances before keane and steed malbranque gave them a 2-0 lead in the second half only for braga to score twice in five minutes through paulo jorge and zé carlos.
berbatov promptings tottenham had the first opportunity of the uefa cup round of 16 first leg when dimitar berbatov toe-poked wide of paulo santos's goal, before teemu tainio was denied by the braga keeper. the hosts responded with paul robinson being called into action to push away bruno gama's long-range deflected effort and vítor castanheira firing wide.
personal duel berbatov missed another opening on 20 minutes while gama spurned his second opportunity of the night as his snap-shot flew straight at robinson. keane was the next tottenham player to test santos, the no1 touching over his attempt before berbatov continued his personal duel with santos with two more drives.
tottenham breakthrough braga sought to up their game after the break with zé carlos drilling into the sidenetting, but tottenham quickly resumed control and made the breakthrough on 57 minutes as aaron lennon's chip found keane and the irish international volleyed in. martin jol's side looked to put the tie to bed, and it was no surprise when they increased their advantage after 72 minutes. lennon skipped into the braga box, and after santos had parried the winger's shot, malbranque slammed the rebound into the roof of the net.
braga comeback braga were given hope when diego went down under a challenge from anthony gardner in the area four minutes later. paulo jorge's penalty was pushed away by robinson but the same player turned in the loose ball. then, on 81 minutes, the liga team grabbed an unlikely equaliser as zé carlos headed in castanheira's free-kick. yet there was still more drama as didier zokora's pass to keane split the braga defence two minutes into added time and the striker rolled a shot under santos for the decider.
