Tue 01 November 2022, 12:00
Tottenham HotspurWe round off our Champions League group stage campaign away at Marseille this evening (8pm kick-off), and it is still all to play for in Group D.
Ahead of the clash, here are all of the game’s key points of note…
1 – Champions or Europa
No matter what happens tonight, we will continue our European journey in the spring, however the result in Marseille will determine which competition that is in. If we are to avoid defeat at the Stade Velodrome, we will progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League – a win will see us top the group, while a draw will be at least good enough for the runners-up spot. A defeat, however, will see us exit the competition and move into the knockout stages of the Europa League.
2 – A point is enough
We head to the south of France knowing that by just drawing tonight’s game, we will be in the last 16 of the Champions League, however games ending level in this competition when Marseille are involved are quite a rarity. Of the French side’s last 23 outings in the Champions League, not a single one has ended level (W5 L18). That is the joint-longest run of games without a draw in the competition’s history.
3 – Frustrations in France
In our history, we have never won a competitive game in France. Since our first trip to our neighbours across the English Channel - a 1-0 Cup Winners’ Cup defeat to Lyon in 1967 - we've lost once and drawn three times in four matches. We lost against Lyon in that meeting in the late 1960s, we then drew 0-0 away at Nantes in the UEFA Cup in 1971 before we returned to Lyon in 2013 and also picked up a draw (1-1). Our most recent trip to the French Republic came last season as we picked up a draw away at Stade Rennais in the Europa Conference League.
4 – Marseille vs the English
While we have had our frustrations in France, Marseille have had their fair share of troubles versus English sides. In their last nine encounters with English opponents, Marseille have failed to win, drawing two and losing the seven remaining fixtures. They haven’t beaten an English side in 12 years – a 1-0 win over Chelsea in December, 2010.
5 – Last time in France
In what was our opening group stage game of the Europa Conference League’s inaugural season, we earned a commendable draw away to eventual group winners Stade Rennais in September, 2021. We opened the scoring in Britanny via an own goal on 11 minutes before the hosts equalised 12 minutes later through Flavien Tait. With 19 minutes remaining of the match, Rennes looked to have won it when Gaeten Laborde put them ahead but we responded well and just five minutes later were level as Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg scored his first-ever goal in a UEFA competition to earn us a point.
6 – Our meeting on Matchday One
Our only previous competitive encounter with Marseille was our meeting earlier in the campaign as we hosted the French side at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and kicked off our group stage campaign. Our opponents from the south of France proved to be quite tricky customers in north London. Well organised and difficult to break down under Igor Tudor it took us a while to break them down but, ultimately, we ran out deserved winners thanks to two fine headers from Richarlison (76 and 81) – his first goals since joining us in the summer from Everton and coming on his European debut.
7 – Early doors
When it comes to Marseille finding the back of the net in the Champions League, it usually comes early. Having scored seven goals so far in the competition this season, all but one of those has come in the opening 30 minutes of matches.
8 - Spurs players’ histories at the Stade Velodrome
Some of our players have enjoyed some fine moments at the Stade Velodrome over the past few years.
Starting with Eric Dier, our number 15 enjoyed one his greatest moments in an England shirt at Marseille’s home as he rifled home a free-kick against Russia in the south of France in June, 2016, to kick-off the Three Lions’ Euro 2016 campaign.
Also in that tournament, Hugo Lloris appeared twice there for France and kept clean sheets on both appearances, first in a 2-0 win in the group stages against Albania and secondly in Les Bleus’ semi-final win over Germany by the same scoreline. Having started his professional career in France, Hugo has also played there at club level, playing six times across his spells at Nice and Lyon (W2, D2, L2).
Lucas Moura has also found fortune at the Velodrome having won on each of his three previous visits there while with at Paris Saint-Germain. He even scored there for PSG in a 5-1 win in February, 2017.
Ivan Perisic is our only player to have played there in the Champions League, losing 3-0 at the Velodrome while with Borussia Dortmund in September, 2011. Clement Lenglet later befell an identical fate when visiting there with Nancy in December, 2016.
