Tottenham opponent dive against Dragusin should’earn Qarabag fk forward a suspension’

Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League campaign got off to a poor start in front of its supporters.

Just seven minutes into the match, Radu Drăgușin found himself in a terrible spot. The Romania international was Tottenham’s last defender and had the ball picked off him by Qarabağ FK’s Juninho.

Drăgușin scrambled to try to win the ball back as Juninho raced toward Guglielmo Vicario’s goal. However, he couldn’t pry the ball off Juninho and took him down outside of the Tottenham penalty area.

Referee Willy Delajod didn’t hesitate to show Drăgușin a straight red card, meaning Spurs had to play the rest of the match with 10 men.

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Brennan Johnson would ease the nerves of the fans in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by opening the scoring four minutes later to find the back of the net for the third straight match.

Dispossessed just inside his own half, the 22-year-old attempted to win the ball back from the pacey Juninho, but was unable to handle his speed.

As a result, Dragusin hauled him down to the ground with no other Spurs players around him.

That meant that the referee had no choice but to issue the centre-back with a straight-red card for conducting a professional foul.

Dragusin is the first player to be sent off on his debut in a major European competition for Tottenham.

Meanwhile his seventh minute red card is Spurs’ earliest from the start of a major European match.

Reacting to the red card on talkSPORT 2’s live coverage, Scott Minto said: “It’s the right decision. Dragusin is trying to be too casual but when you’re the last man you have to be careful.

“We talked about Juninho is like – really sharp, really quick and in the best form of his career – just don’t mess with it there.

“He’s let it come across his body and Juninho has nicked in and he would have gone through – there was no one around and was through on goal against Vicario.

“It’s the worst possible start for Spurs.”

This came after the clash was delayed by 35 minutes due to severe travel disruption around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.