Story of the Match

Olympique de Marseille 1-2 Spurs

Team news

Four changes for Spurs

We made four changes to the team that started our 3-2 win at AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday. Eric Dier, Ivan Perisic, Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Moura all returned, with Davinson Sanchez, Emerson Royal, Oliver Skipp and Yves Bissouma back on the bench. With Head Coach Antonio Conte serving a touchline ban following his red card last week against Sporting, his assistant Cristian Stellini took the team.

Five for Marseille

Marseille made five changes to their side that threw away a two-goal lead to draw at Strasbourg on Saturday, with the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Nuno Tavares and Eric Bailly back in the team. Seven of their starting XI have experience of playing England, including former Spur Pau Lopez in goal and Matteo Guendouzi.

The report...

Second half goals from Clement Lenglet and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg secured a come-from-behind victory against Marseille to ensure we topped Group D and qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Defender Lenglet returned home to France to score his first Spurs goal on the 50th Champions League appearance of his career nine minutes after the break, cancelling out Chancel Mbemba’s opener for the home side.

A draw would have seen us through and we rode our luck at times in the closing stages but, as Marseille chased the goal they needed to qualify, we hit them with a sucker-punch right at the end, Hojbjerg’s screamer not only winning the game but moving us back to the top of the group.

It was a crazy evening in the tightest group of this season’s competition, with three of the four teams topping the group at one stage, as Sporting CP took the lead in their game against Eintracht Frankfurt, only for the Germans to come back and win - Eintracht leading the group until Hojbjerg’s dramatic intervention!

The home fans created an incredible atmosphere as the game got underway and Marseille made a quick start, Alexis Sanchez glancing a header a yard wide early on and forcing Hugo Lloris into a smart save on 19 minutes.

Both sides were forced into early changes, Eric Bailly and Heung-Min Son leaving the game through injury, Son looking dazed as he left the pitch having taken a whack to the face.

He was replaced by Yves Bissouma as we switched formations, but the home side continued to dominate and Lloris produced a fine stop just after the half hour, diving to his left to push away Jordan Veretout’s fierce half volley.

We were pushed back deeper and deeper as the half wore on and eventually fell behind two minutes into stoppage time, Veretout whipping over a cross to the back post where former Newcastle United defender Mbemba produced an incredible leap to meet the ball and power his header past Lloris.

Harry Kane drove in our first shot of the match seven minutes into first-half injury time, a rising drive that former Spur Pau Lopez helped on its way but the corner came to nothing.

In truth, it had been a really poor half for us, but we came out with much more determination after the break and levelled on 54 minutes, Lenglet climbing highest in the box to glance home Ivan Perisic’s free-kick.

We almost went ahead shortly after on a breakaway which ended with Lopez spilling substitute Emerson Royal’s cross but Kane just couldn’t turn home the rebound.

The final stages were incredibly edgy as everything was on the line and both sides went so close, Hojbjerg crashing a shot against the crossbar with Lopez beaten while, at the other end, Perisic produced an outstanding block to deny Sanchez a certain goal.

And hearts were in mouths in the 87th minute when Saed Kolasinac stole in unmarked at the back post to meet Amine Harit’s cross but headed wide.

Stoppage time seemed to last forever but suddenly we broke away, Kane in acres of space able to pick out the surging run of Hojbjerg and he burst into the box and rifled past Lopez to spark fantastic celebrations!

The key moment

Just like at Bournemouth on Saturday, a late, late goal won the game for us but, just like against the Cherries, it was our first goal that changed the momentum of the match - although, perhaps a glaring miss from Saed Kolasinac in the 87th minute could also be deemed a key moment!

We were second best for almost the entire first period, failing to have a single touch in Marseille’s penalty box and at half-time, found ourselves a goal down and heading out of the Champions League. We needed a swift response in the second half and thankfully, got exactly that when Ivan Perisic sent over a superb cross which Clement Lenglet glanced home.

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Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (90+5) | Marseille 1-2 Spurs

Match data...

Marseille (3-4-2-1): Lopez, Mbemba, Bailly (Gigot 9, Kolasinac 73)), Balderi, Clauss (Kabore 74), Rongier (c) (Suarez 83), Veretout (Under 74), Tavares, Guendouzi, Harit, Sanchez. Substitutes (not used): Ngapandouentnbu, Blanco, Gerson, Payet.

Spurs (3-4-3): Lloris (c), Dier, Lenglet, Davies, Perisic, Bentancur (Skipp 84), Hojbjerg, Sessegnon (Royal 46), Lucas (Bryan 90+3), Son (Bissouma 29) Kane. Substitutes (not used): Forster, Austin, Doherty, Sanchez, Spence, Tanganga, Sarr, White.

Goals: Marseille - Mbemba 45+2; Spurs - Clement 54, Hojbjerg 90+5.

Yellow cards: Marseille - Balerdi; Spurs - Lenglet, Hojbjerg.

Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).

Attendance: N/A.

Weather: Partly cloudy, light winds, 17 degrees.

Star of the show - Ivan Perisic

Our best performer in the first half was probably Hugo Lloris as he made a couple of big saves to keep us in the game. After the break, plenty of players could add their name to the list, not least midfielders Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for their energy and drive when we needed it most.

Harry Kane was excellent too, holding the ball up well and finding his passing range, but we’ll give the nod to Ivan Perisic. He showed all his experience when the going got tough, got up and down both flanks as he switched positions a number of times during the game and his delivery from set pieces was superb. Meanwhile, his defensive actions were also crucial, including a superb block to deny on 82 minutes to deny Alexis Sanchez an almost certain goal.

Stats a fact

A French first!

This was our first-ever win in European competitive matches played in France. Before this game, we had failed to win any of our previous six (D4 L2), with our only previous Champions League fixture coming against Monaco in November 2016, losing 2-1.

Another French first!

Clement Lenglet marked his 50th Champions League appearance with our crucial first goal. The French defender, who has previously played in the competition for Sevilla and Barcelona, was featuring in his fifth appearance for us in the UCL and this was his third goal, having scored for both of his previous clubs as well. It was also his first goal in our colours.

Cristian's comment...

“I was coming into the dressing room (at half-time) and thinking how Antonio would talk, and I did, with all my energy, all my thoughts and we are here to celebrate. Also, thanks to Antonio because I learned a lot of lessons from him, and I used this. I’m very proud because when you start a match in the way we started, it’s not easy to change. The crowd was very hot, Marseille had control of the game in the first half, and we never jumped up to press or create problems, and our energy was very low.

“We defended well, because they didn’t create a lot of chances. We changed the system in the second half and played much better, controlled the game and played a fantastic second half. We followed the process. It’s a big confidence boost, a big energy boost, so we have to keep that with us until the 12 November, when we finish this period of many, many games. We have to keep this energy with us, that’s very important, because it’s a long time since we won an away game in Europe. It’s very important to win, a big step.

"We know it’s one year since we’ve been here, we can say this, we’ve scored 115 goals in one year, that’s huge, and it’s massive, the improvement we’ve had, but we have to improve again.”

What it means...

Well, what it does mean is that we’ll have Champions League football at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next year. We started the night top of Group D, dropped to third when we were trailing to Marseille, back to second and qualifying again when Lenglet’s equalised and finished it back on top! It also means we have now reached the knockout rounds in all but one of our six UEFA Champions League campaigns (2010/11, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 & 2022/23) only failing to do so in 2016/17.

Next up...

The big games keep coming as Liverpool visit N17 on Sunday afternoon for a huge Premier League fixture. Jurgen Klopp’s side were also in action this evening, beating Napoli at Anfield to finish second in their Champions League group, but they have struggled in the domestic league and are yet to win on the road in five attempts. Kick-off at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is 4.30pm.