Spurs’ opening match of the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League season at home to Qarabag on Thursday evening has been hit with a lengthy postponement.

“Kick-off for tonight’s match has been postponed due to serious travel disruptions. Further information to follow,” read a post from Spurs on X at 7.16pm.

It was later confirmed by Danny Jamieson of TNT Sports – and Spurs – that the new kick-off time would be 8.35pm.

Ange Postecoglou had joined the TNT Sports panel of Lynsey Hipgrave, Peter Crouch and Glenn Hoddle earlier before the match and had his say.

“You have to work hard tonight,” Postecoglou joked to the TNT trio.

“I’m staying out of the dressing room, the boys are quite calm,” he added.

“Once we know the start time, we’ll work backwards from there. Not ideal, I think, but as soon as kickoff comes, we’ll be ready.”

Spurs named a strong team for the meeting with their Azerbaijani opponents, with Son Heung-min and Dominic Solanke.

Speaking about the prospect of a season in Europe and what it could bring to his group, Postecoglou said: “It’s exciting, it’s exciting to be back in Europe after not being in Europe last year.

“For a club of this size you miss it, evenings like this where everyone plays and you sit at home a bit. So first of all we participate and we are super excited about it. I think the players are too.” .

“We have a young group that wants to create their own little legacy and hopefully that starts tonight.

“It’s just different (to the challenge of European football). Although teams in the Premier League play differently when you play against continental opponents, in my opinion there is always something different. When you play outdoors, the conditions and the way they play are always a different challenge than normal.

“I think that’s the exciting thing, it allows you to explore more possibilities and it helps you evolve individually and as a team.

“Like I said, for our young players, especially the guys starting tonight, it’s going to be a great experience for them, a taste of what Europe is all about and it’s different to the domestic league and I’m sure they will learn a lot tonight.”