David Hytner was at the Stade Vélodrome and his report is in. Here it is! Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Spurs assistant coach Cristian Stellini speaks to BT Sport. “We started not well. We didn’t use power and intensity, and let them play too much in our half. We lost the pitch, and they had the control of the game. After the second half, we had more control and played a good second half. The guys deserved to win. We are a good team, but we have to show for 90 minutes, we have to work again to try to do our best for all the game.”
Hugo Lloris, named man of the match, speaks to BT. “We expected a tough game. The Velodrome is a very difficult place to play. We showed great personality in the second half. The second goal of Pierre is so important to secure first place in the group. It was a psychological battle. If there was a team without fear of losing, it was Marseille, but in the second half we faced the team with the fear to lose. It’s a great result, without our coach! It’s a great winning team.”
Clement Lenglet adds: “We didn’t play well in the first half. Maybe we didn’t know if we had to attack or defend, and it wasn’t good for us. But after that, we speak in the locker room and tell what we have to tell, and we start the second half with much more personality and aggression, and played a very good second half. I score a goal and I am happy, but only because it was for the team, no more.”
Updated
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s last-gasp strike means Spurs go through as group winners … and it knocks Marseille out of Europe altogether! That was a game of two halves all right. Marseille were embarrassingly dominant in the first half, but Spurs restricted them to a single goal, and were a different team in the second period. They upped their game considerably – Rodrigo Bentancur and Højbjerg were superb – and came back hard at Marseille, thoroughly deserving their victory by the end. Even so, the line between success and failure can be tissue-paper thin, and former Arsenal man Sead Kolašinac will be kept awake by the chance he spurned to secure the win for Marseille with a couple of minutes to go. Great entertainment, Spurs ultimately paying Marseille back with some fireworks of their own.
FULL TIME: Marseille 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
… and they’re through as winners of Group D!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 6 | -1 | 10 |
| 3 | Sporting | 6 | -1 | 7 |
| 4 | Marseille | 6 | 0 | 6 |
GOAL! Marseille 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Hojbjerg 90+5)
… Spurs counter, Kane sending Hojbjerg into space down the inside-right channel. The midfielder reaches the edge of the box and clatters a shot across Pau Lopez, off the left-hand upright, and into the net! Spurs are through!
Updated
90 min +4: Marseille pile forward, but …
90 min +3: Moura makes way for Bryan Gil. Spurs are a minute away from completing a fine second-half performance and qualifying for the knockouts!
90 min +2: Tavares is clumsily caught offside, the whistle music to Tottenham’s ears. Meanwhile Eintracht Frankfurt have beaten Sporting 2-1 in Lisbon, and have qualified for the last 16! As things stand, the 1960 finalists will win Group D.
90 min +1: Hojbjerg is booked for a cynical tug on Harit. He’ll miss the first leg of the Round of 16 should Spurs make it. Marseille break upfield. Tavares blazes over.
90 min: There will be four extra minutes. Spurs so close to the last 16!
89 min: That absurd miss might have taken the last puff of wind from the Marseille sail. Spurs do the professional thing and stroke it around the back awhile, causing much frustration. Then Kane dribbles down the left and wins a foul. Time ticks on!
87 min: Under cuts in from the right wing and sends a stunning cross towards Kolašinac, free on the left-hand corner of the Spurs six-yard box. Kolašinac has to score! But the former Arsenal man heads downwards and wide left. How on earth did he miss that?! Spurs fans will have been dreading a former Arsenal star dealing their hopes a fatal blow … but that could be the alternative narrative of their dreams! What a miss!
Updated
85 min: The denouement of this match – this group – is being played out at 101 miles per hour. Great end-to-end fun, and good luck predicting the outcome. “So I know TV pundits hate it when fans leave games early,” writes Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo, “but is there a possibility Spurs fans might start justifiably showing up late?”
83 min: From the corner, Harit’s drive is blocked by Kane. The ball deflects out for a goal kick. Both teams make a change: Skipp on for Bentancur, Luis Suarez (not that one) on for Rongier.
82 min: That’s got the home fans going again, and Sanchez spins on the penalty spot, left to right, and sends an effort towards the bottom left. Lloris is beaten, but Perisic gets in the road to block! Corner!
81 min: Bentancur is good to continue all right! He dances into the Marseille box from the left and cuts back for Moura, who tees up Hojbjerg for a shot. He crashes a rising pearler past Pau Lopez … and flush off the crossbar! Marseille half clear. Moura then forces the ball back down the middle for Kane, who opens his body to shoot from the penalty spot … only to be denied by a sensational last-ditch tackle from behind by Mbemba! Two huge chances to wrap things up!
80 min: Bentancur goes down holding his hamstring … but gets back up after a fashion, and a big glug of water. Looks like he’s good to continue.
78 min: Sanchez, Guendouzi and Rongier over-elaborate on the edge of the Spurs box, when there were a couple of opportunities to shoot. The ball rolls through to Lloris.
77 min: Balerdi is booked for aggressively shoulder-barging Emerson to the ground. Emerson falls clutching his face, which is a bit saucy of him, and possibly influences the level of punishment meted out by the ref.
75 min: Under is involved immediately, hitting a cross-cum-shot from the right that nearly sneaks into the bottom left. Lloris is behind it all the way.
74 min: Marseille make a triple change. Cengiz Ünder, Sead Kolašinac and Issa Kaboré come on for Veretout, Clauss and the substitute Gigot.
73 min: Kane goes down having been accidentally poked in the eye by Mbemba. He’s back up again quickly enough.
72 min: Tavares is sent scampering down the left and wins a corner. Harit takes. Lloris claims. A lot of frustrated whistling from the home fans.
71 min: Randal Kolo Muani has given Eintracht Frankfurt the lead in Lisbon. Now the Europa League champions head the group!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 6 | -1 | 10 |
| 2 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | Marseille | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | Sporting | 6 | -1 | 7 |
69 min: The referee comes across to the Spurs box and flashes a yellow card. Not sure who that’s directed at, or for what. You’re welcome. Pulitzer, please!
68 min: Mbemba, who was sensational in the first half, bombing around all over the pitch with a swagger, shanks a backpass towards Pau Lopez in a very skittish fashion, under no pressure whatsoever. The keeper is forced to race out of his box to hack clear. The difference between Marseille’s first-half performance and their second-half showing in microcosm.
66 min: Now Moura nearly dribbles clear on goal, but again the flag goes up for offside. All of a sudden, it’s Spurs who look the most likely to score next, and the home fans are getting a little jittery.
65 min: Kane is sent clear down the middle by Moura’s header. Kane strides into the box and slams a cold-blooded shot into the bottom left. Such a clinical finish, but it won’t count, because Kane was clearly a couple of yards offside.
63 min: Bentancur robs Mbemba on the Spurs left and launches a three-on-two corner. He tries to send Moura free down the middle, but overhits the pass. Emerson retrieves possession on the right and fires in low. Pau Lopez gets down and fumbles, dropping the ball by Kane … but the Spurs striker can’t sort his feet out and poke home from six yards! The ball’s bundled out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
61 min: Marseille are slowly working up a head of steam again. Nothing like they achieved towards the end of the first half, in the period leading up to their goal, but it’s a response to conceding the equaliser.
59 min: Harit creams a rising shot inches over the Spurs bar from 25 yards. Inches away from a spectacular corner-finder. Meanwhile in Lisbon, Daichi Kamada has equalised for Eintracht Frankfurt … and now Spurs, Europa League bound six minutes ago, are top of Group D as things stand!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | Sporting | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| 3 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 6 | -2 | 8 |
| 4 | Marseille | 6 | 1 | 7 |
58 min: Veretout swings the free kick harmlessly into the arms of Lloris. The Velodrome is a lot less noisy right now.
57 min: Lenglet goes into the book for a cynical tug on Tavares, who was flying down the left. Now it’s Marseille with a free kick in a dangerous position.
56 min: That goal had been coming as well! Spurs have been excellent since the restart. As good as they were awful in the first half. And they’re after a second: Moura makes his way down the right and looks for Kane in the middle, but the cross is too strong.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sporting | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 6 | -3 | 7 |
| 4 | Marseille | 6 | 1 | 7 |
GOAL! Marseille 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Lenglet 54)
… it’s perfectly weighted for Lenglet to win a header at the far post. He rises above Rongier and eyebrows the ball into the bottom right, Pau Lopez with no chance! What a fine set-play goal, and Spurs are in the last 16 as things stand!
Updated
53 min: Kane, anonymous in the first half, is much more involved now. He battles his way down the left and wins a free kick from Guendouzi. Perisic to curl it in, and …
51 min: Spurs look much more up for it now. Cristian Stellini with a few half-time truths, I’ll be bound.
49 min: Davies rolls a pass down the right for Bentancur, who suddenly strides along the wing at pace. He whips in low for the lunging Kane, preparing to tap home from six yards. But Paul Lopez spreads himself at the striker’s feet, and tips the ball up and away from Kane’s reach at the very last nanosecond. Marseille clear. So much better from Spurs.
47 min: Spurs string a few passes together at last. Bentancur swings one in from the left, hoping to find Kane, six yards out. Not quite, and Marseille clear, but that’s so much better from the visitors. Not that the bar was set high.
Marseille get the second half underway. Spurs have made a change during the break, replacing Ryan Sessegnon with Emerson Royal.
Tottenham’s first-half xG tells the story by itself: 0.04. Marseille, for the record, are on 0.65. But if that stat isn’t enough, how about these: 134 final-third passes by Marseille to Tottenham’s 14, and 16 Marseille touches in the opposition box to Tottenham’s big fat zero. And yet Spurs are far from out of it. They only need a draw, and for all that lopsided misery, had Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg aimed straight with the very last kick of the half, they’d be level. Football is a funny old game, as the best striker to ever play for the club was fond of saying.
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HALF TIME: Marseille 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
This is no more than Marseille deserve. The hosts have been utterly dominant, and Spurs have paid the price for their lack of ambition. As things stand, the 1993 champions are heading for the last 16, and Spurs will be cashiered into the Europa League.
45 min +7: Kane creams a rising shot goalwards from 25 yards. Pau Lopez tips over, then punches the resulting corner clear. Hojbjerg shanks the dropping ball wide right, with the goal unguarded. Then the whistle goes for half-time. Pau Lorez is fuming, insisting he’d been obstructed while clearing his lines. But it doesn’t matter now.
45 min +6: Spurs haven’t reacted to the goal at all. They’re really desperate to hear the half-time whistle now.
45 min +4: The Velodrome erupts. The roof is in danger of coptering off towards the Basque Country. In the stand, Antonio Conte looks thoroughly miserable. As things stand, his Champions League curse is set to continue, and Spurs are heading for the Europa League.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sporting | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | Marseille | 6 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| 4 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 6 | -3 | 7 |
GOAL! Marseille 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Mbemba 45+2)
Harit bustles down the right. Sessegnon shepherds the ball out for what he thinks is a goal kick … but the referee awards a corner. Marseille take it short, Harit to Veretout. Then Vertout whips it to the far stick, where Mbemba rises and absolutely batters a downwards header past Lloris and into the bottom-left corner. Unstoppable! That, it is fair to say, had been coming.
Updated
45 min: Spurs can’t get out of their final third. They keep gifting the ball to Marseille, allowing the hosts to probe this way and that. The noise in the Velodrome is cranked up. Spurs are hanging on. There will be seven extra first-half minutes.
43 min: A corner for Marseille on the left. Gigot beats the flapping Lloris but heads over the bar. Marseille soon come straight back at Spurs, Tavares crossing from the left, Guendouzi can’t connect in the middle and Sessegnon clears. Spurs could do with hearing the half-time whistle.
42 min: In the other Group D match, Sporting have taken the lead against Eintracht. Arthur Gomes on 39 minutes. As things stand, they’re going through as group winners.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sporting | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 6 | -3 | 7 |
| 4 | Marseille | 6 | 1 | 7 |
40 min: Spurs continue to sit deep. Guendouzi hovers and probes. Spurs hold their shape. “They can’t keep playing like this,” sighs a worried Glenn Hoddle on BT Sport.
38 min: Kane busies himself down the left and earns Tottenham’s first corner of the evening. Pau Lopez, formerly of Spurs without ever turning out for the first team, punches Perisic’s delivery clear, earning a free kick for obstruction while doing so.
36 min: Lloris takes his sweet time over a goal kick. The home fans give him the pantomime bird. Expect more of this. You can’t blame Tottenham, everyone would do the same.
35 min: Sessegnon and Moura combine on the edge of the Marseille D before slipping the ball wide left for Perisic, who fizzes an extremely inviting ball through the six-yard box. But Kane is inexplicably not there, and then the flag pops up for an offside on Moura anyway. The most dangerous Spurs have looked so far.
34 min: Marseille have enjoyed 62 percent of the possession, and now have forced Lloris into a second save. On the balance of play, Spurs will be pretty happy with this outcome.
33 min: Mbemba crosses from the right. Sessegnon tries to clear but doesn’t really connect with his attempted volley. The ball breaks to Veretout, who takes a touch to shift the ball to the left, then pearls a shot across Lloris and towards the top right. Lloris, at full stretch, parries marvellously away for a corner, from which nothing comes.
31 min: The four-minute pause for the injury to Son has disrupted the flow of the match. It’s all a bit disjointed right now.
29 min: The departed Son is replaced by Yves Bissouma.
28 min: Nope. Poor Son, his shoulders hunched and head hanging low, is helped off the pitch. He walks extremely gingerly down the tunnel, assisted by the doctor. God speed.
27 min: The physio has taken a good couple of minutes looking at Son, who is down on his haunches and staring into the distance rather vacantly. He surely won’t be allowed to continue.
25 min: Son is down having taken an accidental whack upside the head in an aerial challenge with Mbemba. He looks really groggy. Mbemba’s shoulder connected with his cheek. That will have been a sore one.
23 min: Spurs are struggling to play their way through the Marseille press and out of their final third. They’ve not enjoyed much in the way of possession so far.
21 min: Veretout crosses deep from the left. Clauss chests down and shoots across the face of goal and wide of the left-hand post. Lloris had that one covered, but the hosts continue to dominate, and Spurs are living a little dangerously here.
19 min: Tavares finds Sanchez with a pass down the inside-left channel. Sanchez has his back to goal, but spins away from Davies and shoots in one smooth motion, the ball sailing towards the top left. Lloris parries out for a corner, from which nothing comes. A fine effort by – let’s face it, this is going to be the story if he scores – the former Arsenal man.
17 min: Dier flings a throw across the face of his own box towards Lenglet, who just about clears under pressure from Sanchez. Marseille claim the ball hit Lenglet’s hand, but there’s nothing doing. Davies bombs down the left wing at full speed on the counter, but his attempt to release Perisic with a ball down the channel sails out for a goal kick. It’s not much, but at least Spurs have now shown themselves in attack.
15 min: Harit, quarterbacking from deep, nearly finds Sanchez with a forensic ball down the middle. Davies does extremely well to read the danger, intercepting and clearing as Sanchez prepared to take up possession just inside the box.
13 min: Tavares barrels down the left and is nearly upended by Sessegnon. Tavares stays on his feet only to be brought down successfully by Sessegnon’s second attempt. Free kick just to the left of the Spurs box. Everyone lines up ten yards from goal. Veretout’s delivery fails to beat the first man and Spurs are able to blooter clear.
11 min: Marseille are first to everything right now. Kane, already showing signs of frustration, pointlessly clips Veretout and gives him the eyes as he gets back up. A hard stare. Paddington would be proud.
Updated
9 min: The injury plagued Bailly goes down. Then gets up and sadly limps off. Samuel Gigot comes on in his place.
8 min: Sanchez drags a speculative shot wide left from 25 yards. Spurs are presumably scheduled to arrive soon.
7 min: Guendouzi pops up on the left now, his prompting sending Tavares into space down the flank. Tavares digs out a cross that proves easy pickings for Lloris. This is all Marseille, and the noise is ear-splitting.
5 min: Guendouzi makes more ground down the right. He slips Clauss clear on the overlap. Clauss skitters along the byline and has team-mates waiting for the cutback, but instead threads a strange ball straight at Lloris, who will be thankful for the gift. Spurs need to wake up and quick.
3 min: Harit dinks a low cross into the Spurs box from the left-hand edge of the area. Sanchez stoops and guides a header across Lloris and inches wide of the bottom right. Had that been on target, Lloris was beaten. A lovely effort.
2 min: Guendouzi drives down the right and crosses deep. Tavares tries to control on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, but can’t do so under pressure from Dier. Spurs clear their lines.
Spurs get the ball rolling. One hell of an atmosphere! Warm but not particularly welcoming. That Riviera touch!
The teams are out! As home team, Marseille get first dibs on white shirts, so Spurs run out in third-choice “rift blue and mystic navy … inspired by Tottenham’s ever-evolving DNA and the popular Nike TN sneaker range.” So there you have it. Dare, yeah dare, to do it your way. The Vélodrome is bouncing, even without fans on the Visage Nord, a legacy of incidents involving Marseille fans when they played Eintracht Frankfurt in September. We’ll be off once the desecration of Zadok the Priest is complete.
No word from Antonio Conte for obvious reasons, so assistant coach Cristian Stellini – looking and sounding relaxed and confident – speaks to BT Sport instead. “The routine doesn’t change. We prepared with Antonio until we arrived here, and the dressing room is quite calm. We are motivated and ready to play this match. We slept very well last night, we enjoyed the fireworks, but they were a bit short! We do many changes every game because the schedule is tough, but every game our choice is to win, and we select to win. Marseille mix quality with intensity. We have to be tough, win duels, and we’ll see.”
Spectacular pre-match pyrotechnic display.
Tottenham make four changes to the starting XI selected for the 3-2 comeback win at Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon. Ivan Perišić, Eric Dier, Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Moura return, with Davinson Sánchez, Oliver Skipp, Yves Bissouma and Emerson Royal dropping to the bench.
Marseille have got some familiar names in their starting line-up. Alexis Sánchez, Mattéo Guendouzi and Nuno Tavares are formerly of Arsenal, while Eric Bailly is on loan from Manchester United. The mercurial Dimitri Payet, late of West Ham, is on the bench alongside former Leicester winger Cengiz Ünder and another erstwhile Gunner, Sead Kolašinac. A rare old Premier League reunion.
The teams
Marseille: Pau Lopez, Mbemba, Bailly, Balerdi, Clauss, Rongier, Veretout, Tavares, Guendouzi, Harit, Sanchez.
Subs: Ngapandouetnbu, Gigot, Gerson, Payet, Suarez, Under, Kolasinac, Kabore, Blanco.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Lenglet, Dier, Davies, Sessegnon, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Perisic, Lucas Moura, Kane, Son.
Subs: Doherty, Skipp, Sanchez, Gil Salvatierra, Emerson, Forster, Spence, Tanganga, Sarr, Bissouma, Austin, White.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).
Preamble
Last week this happened …
… and now Spurs need a point from their final match at Marseille if they’re to make it through to the last 16. Kick off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tottenham Hotspur | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | Sporting | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| 3 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 5 | -2 | 7 |
| 4 | Marseille | 5 | 1 | 6 |
