OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE  1  (1)  TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR  2  (0)
Date : –  Tuesday 1st November 2022 Kick off : –  20.00
Competition : –  Champions League Group D Venue : –   Stade Velodrome
Crowd : –  50,768
Referee : –  Szymon Marciniak (POL) Linesmen : –  Pawel Sokolnicki (POL); Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL)
Fourth official : –  Tomasz Musial (POL)
VAR official : – Tomasz Kwiatkowski (POL) VAR Assistant : –  Bartosz Frankowski (POL)
Weather : –  Dry, warm
Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the Virage Sud end
Playing time : –   90 + 13 minutes

 

OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
GOAL-SCORERS
    Mbemba  45+1m 29s   Lenglet  53m 10s
        Hojbjerg  90+4m 24s
CARDS
  Balderi  (barging into Royal when ball was dead)  76   Lenglet  (foul on Tavares)  57
       Stellini  (dissent)  68
       Hojbjerg  (attempted foul on Tavares)  90+1
 

 

OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
16.   Pau LOPEZ 1.   Hugo LLORIS (c)
     
99.   Chancel MBEMBA   15.   Eric DIER
3.   Eric BAILLY  (  4.   Samuel GIGOT  9 [  23.   Sead KOLASINAC  73])  34.   Clement LENGLET 
5.   Leonardo BALDERI  33.   Ben DAVIES
    
7.   Jonathan CLAUSS  (  29.   Issa KABORE  74)   19.   Ryan SESSEGNON  (  12.   Emerson ROYAL  46)  
21.   Valentin RONGIER  (  11.   Luis SUAREZ  83)   5.   Pierre-Emile HOJBJERG     
27.   Jordan VERETOUT    (  17.   Cengiz UNDER  74)   30.   Rodrigo BENTANCUR  (  4.   Oliver SKIPP  84) 
30.   Nuno TAVARES 14.   Ivan PERISIC 
  
6.   Matteo GUENDOUZI 27.   Lucas MOURA  (  11.   BRYAN Gil  90+3)
77.   Amine HARIT 10.   Harry KANE 
   7.   Heung-Min SON  (  38.   Yves BISSOUMA  29)  
70.   Alexis SANCHEZ     
Substitutes Substitutes
1.   Simon NGAPANDOUENTNBU 20.   Fraser FORSTER
36.   Ruben BLANCO 40.   Brandon AUSTIN
8.   GERSON 2.   Matt DOHERTY
10.   Dimitri PAYET 25.   Japhet TANGANGA
  6.   Davinson SANCHEZ
  29.   Pape Matar SARR
  42.   Harvey WHITE
  24.   Djed SPENCE

    = Assist        =  Goal scored       =  Own goal scored

Manager : – Igor Tudor Manager : –  Antonio Conte in stand; Asst. Cristian Stellini in dug-out 
Kit Supplier : –  Puma Kit Supplier : – Nike
Shirt Sponsor : –  Cazoo Shirt Sponsor : – AIA
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – –  Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – cinch
Colours : –
Colours : –
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website

 

MATCH REPORT
This Champions League group came down to this one game, with Tottenham having to go to Marseille and get at least a point to qualify and a win to top the group.  Seemingly like we always do, we take it to the wire and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s last kick winner ensured we have a group winner place in the draw for the Round of 16, while the 2-1 win gave us our first win in Europe on French soil.  It was another Jeckyl (first half) and Hyde (second half) performance and it will need more experimenting by Antonio Conte to try and resolve the enigma that produces a horror show first 45 followed by a heroic second 45.

Without Conte on the bench because of his ban, there were four changes to the team from Saturday’s win at Bournemouth.  Perisic came into the side for Royal, but not in his position, with Ryan Sessegnon switching to the right side which was odd for a left footed player.  Dier returned in place of Sanchez, with Moura taking Bissouma’s place in what was an attacking three and Bentancur was re-instated in the middle of midfield with Skipp dropping to the bench.

Inside three minutes Harit delivered a ball from the left with the outside of his right boot for Sanchez to get to the cross first with his head, but he glanced it right across goal. Marseille then got in behind Perisic on their right, but the ball in went straight into Lloris’ arms as he dived at the near post, while all the French side’s players were further behind him for a pull back. It was an unsettling opening period, with Spurs unable to hold onto the ball and Marseille keen to get shots on goal, although they were off target with most of them.

Marseille risked playing Eric Bailly, who had been out with a thigh problem and he lasted only nine minutes before he had to be substituted. The home team looked to make the most of situations, with two free-kicks won in quick succession one when a player was obstructing Sessegnon and another when Ryan dived into a challenge.  The latter was in the Spurs defensive third, but Hojbjerg headed it away. Marseille dominated possession for the first fifteen minutes and were screaming for a penalty when a Dier sky-high ball from the left back onto the edge of the Spurs area hit Lenglet as it came out of the heavens, but the officials were not interested.

Son was swopped upon whenever he got the ball and one tackle took the ball and it was moved across the pitch before being played into Sanchez inside the area on the left of the goal. He took a touch and got his shot away quickly with Hugo being equal to it by beating it out for a corner. The real problem for Tottenham was not being able to keep the ball away from their goal, as the ball wasn’t being held by any of the players and especially up front. That wasn’t helped when Son had to leave the field after 27 minutes when he was whacked on the cheek by Mbemba after our forward had won the header. It was accidental but left Spurs short up front with Bissouma replacing Son.

Ironically, the change led to a period of possession for Tottenham, as the structure of the team changed to three in midfield with two wing backs and two up front. However, a ball across from the right was sliced by Sessegnon and Veretout made good contact with his shot but Lloris dived to his left to push the ball away with his right hand for a corner, with a very good save. From the corner, Spurs did fashion an attacking move but Moura was given offside in the build-up after Perisic had fizzed a ball across the goalmouth. Kane then held off Rongier, who got a foot in to concede a corner, but a foul was given to Marseille when the ball was played into the box.

Gigot beat Hugo to a corner, with the Spurs captain never going to reach the ball but luckily he put his header off target. Tottenham had quietened the crowd just before half-time, but the continual ceding of possession caused the home crowd to increase their volume as the attacks were incessant.  A questionable corner was given when Sessegnon had shielded the ball off and a short corner was crossed in and Mbemba headed it down at that far post and inside Lloris’ right hand post to put Tottenham behind in added time with the noise level notched up even more. It was a sucker punch with the Marseille defender totally unmarked as he jumped high to get over the ball. With seconds left of added time, Harry Kane struck a shot from the left corner of the box that Lopez touched over and when the corner came in Lopez flapped at it and Hojbjerg hit it wide that brought the half to a close, while the Marseille keeper raged at the referee.

Royal replaced Sessegnon and Spurs started to have some of the ball and a pass down the right to Bentancur ended with a first-time ball across the area, where Lopez just got a touch to it before Kane pounced. The ball just evaded Harry and it was a better start to the second half than any of what had gone on in the first 45 minutes.  When a free kick for a foul by Guendouzi on Kane on the left wing was played into the box by Perisic it was Lenglet shrugged off Rongier to rise above him and power a header wide of Lopez to his left to level the match. It was a clear header and there was no challenge on the Frenchman allowing him to plant it into the net with 53 minutes gone.

Suddenly, Spurs started to play. Bentancur won a ball in midfield and ran 50 yards with it before turning back and keeping the ball with a pass to Royal. In the next phase Bentancur again ran forward, freeing Moura on the right, but his early cross was way too far ahead of Kane. Lenglet got booked for a foul on Tavares, but the free-kick was put straight into Hugo’s hands when Mbemba was free at the far post again. A poor clearance by Perisic went straight to Harit 25 yards out and he drilled his shot just over the bar.

Rodrigo Bentancur was running the game, pinching the ball off an opponent on the left wing and running forward, but his ball to Moura, who was free on the right, was over-hit and ran through to Royal. His cross was fumbled by Lopez and Kane was on it, but the ball ran away from him off the keeper for a corner. Kane did get the ball in the net a minute after the corner, when a sliced clearance was won in the air by Moura, but Kane was offside before he slammed it past Lopez.

The referee was getting generous with his decisions, allowing Kane to be knocked over without a free-kick, then waving a yellow card at the Tottenham bench with the recipient being anyone’s guess. Spurs were being able to pass the ball in little triangles, as Marseille looked as though they had run out of steam after their first half efforts, but they won a corner that Lloris came to claim after a header had put the ball way up into the air.

Marseille manager Igor Tudor brought another Gooner on and Under, who had a spell at Leicester also was introduced.

A neat move from a throw-in with ten minutes to go almost put Spurs into the lead, with Bentancur taking defenders on in the box, with the ball being laid back by Moura to Hojbjerg to hit a shot from 14 yards that bounced down and out off the crossbar when a goal would have put Spurs through as group winners. Seconds later Moura got the ball, lost it and then managed to nudge it through to Kane in the area, but he was robbed by a finely timed tackle by Mbemba. Marseille still were going for it, as only a win would do for them, but firstly Perisic made a brilliant block as Sanchez looked to squeeze a shot in at the far post on the right, then Kane blocked an effort from the resulting corner.

Rodrigo had given everything and was feeling his hamstring, so Skipp came on in his place. With under five minutes left Under swung a far post cross from the right and Seadinac was free coming onto it at the far post and when it looked odds on a goal, he somehow put his header down and wide of the goal. It was a clear opportunity, and it was a surprise when the ball ended up behind the goal instead of in it.

From a Spurs free-kick deep in the OM half, Spurs lost the ball, Hojbjerg tried to pull back Tavares, but he continued on and fired a shot over the top, but a yellow card was shown to Pierre after the ref allowed play to go on, meaning he will miss the next match Spurs play in Europe. He looked as if he hurt himself doing so and with Bentancur also suffering, it looked like it might impact our upcoming games. Moura had run himself into the ground and Bryan Gil came on.

With OM pushing players on and Spurs asking for the final whistle, Davies won the ball off Under and it went through to Kane. He held the ball up and with Hojbjerg and Gil to his right, he slipped a pass through to the Dane. It looked as though he might have taken an extra touch too many, but he took it away from Mbemba and fired a shot from the right of the D across Lopez to go in off the far post. It wasn’t quite Ajax again, but the feeling was the same, with the look on the faces of the sad, sad Gooners who play for Marseille a picture.  Especially when Seadinac could have won it for them minutes before.

So another game when we soaked up all that Marseille threw at us in the first half, well nearly all and then turned the table for an away win in the Champions League, which we haven’t had too many of. The second half saw a more composed Spurs, who took care of the ball, rather than just clearing it to nobody in particular in the first half. Royal actually played well on the right, keeping possession and getting back to defend when needed, while the work that Hojbjerg and Bentancur did provided the rock that the team’s revival was built on.

There must be questions asked about the referee’s control of the game, as he gave a yellow card to Cristian Stellini on the Tottenham bench but allowed the Marseille manager to be on the pitch while play went on more than once.  How he didn’t get a red card when Conte did last week is a joke.

Marseille had so much of the first half that they should have made more of it, and they ended up paying for that.  Even in the second half, that chance for Seadinac could have turned the game back in their favour, but it was a shocking miss, but a really welcome one for a whole number of reasons for Spurs fans. Having seen OM a few times on BT Sport, they rarely keep going for 90 minutes and so it proved today. Their second half performance was everything their first half wasn’t. It was like the teams had swapped shirts at half-time. Spurs kept going and while he didn’t score, Harry Kane took the knocks and bought time and territorial advantage with his control of the ball. The defending might have been last-ditch in some cases, but it was stubborn and determined that pushed Marseille further back towards their own goal.

It was sweet that the last kick of the game booted Marseille out of Europe, while Eintracht Frankfurt went through as the second place team, winning 2-1 after being a goal behind to Sporting Lisbon, who will drop down into the Europa League.

So, that’s the Champions League put to bed until next year and Thursday night football will be for the no-hopers in the Europa competitions.

Sparky Marky

 

MATCH NOTES
  • Clement Lenglet plays his 50th Champions League match
  • Clement Lenglet scores his first Tottenham goal.
  • Tottenham’s first away win against a French side in Europe.

 

OTHER RESULTS
Group A
Liverpool 2 SSC Napoli (ITA) 0
Glasgow Rangers 1 Ajax (HOL) 3
Group B
FC Porto (POR) 2 Atletico Madrid (SPA) 1
Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 0 Club Brugge (BEL) 0
Group C
Bayern Munich (GER) 2 Internazionale (ITA) 0
Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 2 Barcelona (SPA) 4
Group D
Sporting Lisbon (POR) 1 Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) 2
Group E
Chelsea 2 Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 1
AC Milan (ITA) 4 Red Bull Salzburg (AUS) 0
Group F
Real Madrid (SPA) 5 Glasgow Celtic (SCO) 1
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 0 RB Leipzig (GER) 4
Group G
FC Copenhagen (DEN) 1 Borussia Dortmund (GER) 1
Mancashter City 3 Sevilla (SPA) 1
Group H
Maccabi Haifa (ISR) 1 Benfica (POR) 6
Juventus (ITA) 1 Paris Saint Germain (FRA) 2


Champions League Group D Table

Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Points Goal difference
1 Tottenham Hotspur 6 3 2 1 8 6 11 +2
4 Eintracht Frankfurt 6 3 1 2 7 8 10 -1
3 Sporting Lisbon 6 2 1 3 8 9 7 -1
2 Olympique Marseille 6 2 0 4 8 8 6 0