Tottenham Hotspur rally past nine-man Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Europa League

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Tottenham Hotspur narrowly avoided Europa League elimination with a 2-1 comeback win against nine-man Lokomotiv Plovdiv on Thursday night in second qualifying round action.

Georgi Minchev put the home side in front in the 72nd minute, leaving Jose Mourinho's Spurs to chase the game to avoid missing out on European football for the rest of the season.

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And Tottenham were handed the lifeline they needed shortly after the Lokomotiv goal when Momchil Cvetanov kept the ball out of the hosts' goal with his hand and was shown a straight red card.

Harry Kane converted the ensuing penalty for Spurs to level the score while Plovdiv were shown a second red, this time with Birsent Karageren being sent off for spitting on Tanguy Ndombele to leave his team to finish the match with nine players.

Soon after, Tottenham took advantage of their two extra players to go ahead when Ndombele tapped the ball home from close range from a Giovani Lo Celso assist after a series of crisp passes from Spurs.

Tottenham are next in action on Sunday in the Premier League when they face Southampton at St Marys.