Tottenham 2-2 Roma: Hummels grabs last-gasp equaliser

Mats Hummels’ late tap-in ensured Roma snatched a deserved 2-2 draw against Tottenham in the Europa League.

Spurs, fresh from hammering Manchester City 4-0 in the Premier League last weekend, looked set to get back on track in Europe after their defeat to Galatasaray last time out as they held out amid a wave of Roma pressure.

Yet that pressure finally told in the 91st minute as Claudio Ranieri’s side, who had seen two goals disallowed earlier in the second half, hauled themselves level through Hummels’ close-range finish.

Spurs had started briskly, taking the lead through Son Heung-min’s fifth-minute penalty, though Roma hit back when the excellent Paulo Dybala delivered a pinpoint cross that was headed in by Evan Ndicka.

Dybala’s sensational lobbed pass was matched by an equally brilliant volley from Stephan El Shaarawy soon after, though VAR came to Spurs’ rescue, with the Roma winger having strayed offside.

That served as the wake-up call Spurs needed, and not long after hitting the post, Dejan Kulusevski slid a ball across for Brennan Johnson to tuck in the hosts’ second.

But Roma had the better of the second half, and they got the goal their performance merited when Hummels tapped home from Angelino’s brilliant low cross, moments after Fraser Forster had made a stunning save to deny Gianluca Mancini.

#ASRoma | #TottenhamRoma | #UEL pic.twitter.com/zWeoneySyg

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) November 28, 2024

Data Debrief: Golden oldie

Hummels has become Roma’s second-oldest scorer in major European competition (35 years, 348 days), behind only club great Francesco Totti (38 years, 59 days vs CSKA Moscow in 2014).

His equaliser ensured Tottenham failed to win a home group stage match in the Europa League for the first time since October 2014 (1-1 vs Besiktas), with Spurs having won 10 consecutive such games prior to Thursday’s draw.

Roma boss Ranieri, meanwhile, took charge of a Europa League game for the first time since February 25, 2010, 14 years and 277 days ago, the longest gap between games for a coach since the competition’s rebranding in 2009.