Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League campaign is at risk of coming to a premature end after a largely poor showing in the Netherlands

A comical first-half own-goal from Lucas Bergvall consigned a lacklustre Tottenham to a 1-0 loss away to AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

AZ Alkmaar await the first encounter with Tottenham Hotspur tonight in the first of two Europa League round of 16 fixtures. Micky van de Ven is rumoured to possibly make his comeback at the AFAS Stadion. As per Voetbal International, this is the probable line-up of Ange Postecoglu’s team.

The home side – who are known as the cheese farmers – could have been out of sight after repeatedly finding holes in the Spurs defence had it not been for two excellent saves from Guglielmo Vicario, including one to deny Tottenham academy graduate Troy Parrott in the first half.

We are in the round of 16, we have got two tough games against AZ and that is the first thing to overcome. “The club has not in recent years done well in this competition, but it is a major European competition,