Neither side could open the scoring in the first half of tonight's Europa League tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Lazio.

© AP Photos

The visitors thought that they had taken the lead after just five minutes when Gareth Bale got on the end of Tom Carroll's through-ball before rounding the keeper and putting the ball into the empty net. The linesman, however, flagged for offside, although replays suggested that the Welshman was on.

Lazio came within inches of taking the lead in the 18th minute when Cristian Ledesma's swerving strike was tipped onto the crossbar by Hugo Lloris.

Lloris came to Spurs' rescue again soon after as Lazio broke away on the counter-attack. Luis Cavanda drove forward before playing in Libor Kozak, but the Czech forward was denied by the feet of Lloris.

Kozak came close once more just after the half-hour mark, but he just couldn't direct his near post header on target as both sides entered the break all square.