• Europa League

AVB proud of Spurs as Lord Sugar calls for his head

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Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas believes his side's Europa League exploits have changed the attitude of English teams to UEFA's second string competition, but former Spurs chairman Lord Alan Sugar has called for the Portuguese to be sacked.

A heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat to Basel was the final act of Tottenham's European adventure for another season and a rain-soaked Villas-Boas struggled to contain his disappointment after his side battled in vain despite being reduced to 10 men following a red card for defender Jan Vertonghen.

Yet Villas-Boas tried to find a silver lining in his side's latest disappointment, with his pride in their approach offering some consolation on a desperate night for Spurs.

"Obviously we are disappointed not to go through as we had high ambitions for this competition," he told ITV Sport. "My first thoughts are for the players because they set for the country a great, great example in the Europa League this season.

"We had to dig in deep to hold on, we wanted to reach penalties to be in with a chance. It didn't go our way in the penalties, but we are extremely happy with the performance here tonight.

"The way they played every Thursday and Sunday, the commitment they made to the competition, it showed the country that we could approach this competition in a different way.

"For this example to come from Tottenham is something I will always cherish, the change of approach. We made the country feel differently about the competition, but we have seen most of the teams change their approach to a competition that now means a lot.

"Although this is a great disappointment, we have set a great standard for the future. Hopefully it will go a little better in the future because it couldn't go any worse than it did tonight."

Meanwhile, irate former Tottenham chairman Lord Sugar reacted to the club's Europa League exit by calling for Villas-Boas to be sacked, in an angry outburst via his Twitter account that pointed an accusing finger at spot-kick failures Tom Huddlestone and Emmanuel Adebayor.

"AVB should be fired," he wrote. "No tactics. Been lucky up till now with results. How can he put Huddlestone as pen taker. Then Adebayor you knew would miss."

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