Tottenham's hopes of winning a trophy are over for another season yet they will return from Portugal with renewed optimism after Nacer Chadli's brace ended a three-match losing streak in a compelling Europa League encounter at Benfica.
An impressive 3000 fans made the trip to Lisbon more in hope than expectation after the Portuguese giants inflicted a 3-1 defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie - Spurs' largest ever European loss at White Hart Lane.
Their task was made all the more difficult by the absence of 11 first-teamers, but they did not wilt under the pressure and Tim Sherwood's side secured a morale-boosting 2-2 draw in a fascinating end to the match.
The manner of performance and display will have pleased the under-fire boss, especially given the fact Spurs' uphill struggle became even steeper when Ezequiel Garay powered home a first-half header.
It looked to have effectively ended the tie in which there were no repeat of the fireworks between Sherwood and Benfica counterpart Jorge Jesus, only for summer signing Chadli to turn the match on its head.
The Belgium forward netted a quickfire brace which was followed up by Aaron Lennon, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Harry Kane efforts, as well as a strong penalty claim before Lima tucked away a spot-kick for the hosts in stoppage-time following a challenge by Sandro, who was deputising at centre-half for the London club.
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