Tottenham have dropped their first match of this season's Europa League with a 1-0 defeat at Rubin Kazan tonight.
A mostly inexperienced Spurs line-up was outplayed for much of the 90 minutes by a Rubin side determined to give themselves every chance of qualifying for the next phase which they have done by temporarily moving top of Group A.
Bebars Natcho's 55th minute free-kick was the difference between the sides although Rubin had a massive 10 shots on goal compared to Tottenham's one and could have easily won by more on the night.
Spurs started brightly but the home side did all the attacking after a quiet beginning, forcing Spurs keeper Carlo Cudicini to make a number of vital saves.
The loss was Tottenham's first in their past seven matches in all competitions and places them second in their group although they are likely to fall to third as PAOK are leading Shamrock Rovers 3-1 at time of writing.
Europa League Group A
Rubin Kazan (RUS): 1 (Bebars Natcho 55') Tottenham Hotspur (NG): 0 Tsentralnyi Stadium, Kazan
Yellow cards:RUB - Alxander Ryazantsev 87', Alexei Eremenko 90+2' TOT - Sebastien Bassong 54', Jermain Defoe 55'
