Marseille 1-2 Tottenham (Mbemba 45+2 | Lenglet 54′, Hojbjerg 90+4)
STADE VELODROME — After the dramas of a week ago this was a night for gratitude and thanks. Thanks that a first-half spanking yielded the loss of only one goal, that Antonio Conte’s exile in the stands was ultimately absorbed, and that a winner with the last kick of the match sent Spurs into the last 16 draw on Monday.
Conte was marshalled out of the playing zone 75 minutes before kick-off, heading in the opposite direction to his team, a metaphor perhaps for the way the night looked like it might go. Whatever message Conte communicated through the half-time ether to his assistant Cristian Stellini it worked.
Fired by the energy generated in this magnificent edifice Marseille went off like the fireworks that dominated the build-up. Despite the loss of one enclosure behind a goal, there was no diminution in volume. The enthusiastic embrace of Olympic Marseille by the supporters is a key feature of the city, as it almost always is the further removed a place is from the capital. The sense of exotica is further enhanced by the hot, multicultural swell of the heavily industrialised port setting.
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Why Marseille's stadium is partially closed for Champions League game against Tottenham01 November, 2022The night was laid out with clarity for both teams. Only a win would take Marseille from the bottom of the group above Spurs and into the knockout stages. Spurs needed a draw to progress. Since any ensemble selected by Conte is compact by design, the circumstances served that instinct. Thus the impulse to contain rather than press was uppermost.
Compelled to go for it, Marseille went at Spurs at a decent lick creating two early opportunities. Hugo Lloris was busy again in the 18th minute with an excellent block at his near post from Alexis Sanchez. A blow to the head of Son Heung-min midway through the half forced a break in play that suited Spurs if his subsequent departure did not. On came Yves Bissouma with Lucas Moura filling the space left by Son.
Marseille were quickly into a rhythm, Valentin Rongier bringing another acrobatic save from Lloris, who was becoming the central figure in the piece. Not only was the French keeper adept at keeping his countrymen at bay, his artful deliberations over goal kicks and the like frustrated them still further by taking chunks of time out of the game.
Group D table
- 1. Tottenham (Q) – 11 points
- 2. Eintracht Frankfurt (Q) – 10
- 3. Sporting Lisbon (EL) – 7
- 4. Marseille – 6
The story of the first half was told by the numbers. Not quite the pounding of Old Trafford but telling nonetheless. The best part of 70 per cent possession, ten goal attempts to three. The indicators were pointing only one way and lo, in the second of seven added minutes before half time the dam burst, ex-Newcastle defender Chancel Mbemba channelling his inner Wor Jackie to power home a stonking header at the far post.
The shift in dynamic left Spurs with little choice but to shed their reserve. The shape of the team was immediately more offensive with Moura playing closer to Harry Kane and Bissouma playing aggressively higher up the pitch, funnily enough, the position to which he is best suited. Spurs had their reward within eight minutes of the restart, Perisic picking out the head of Clement Lenglet with that wand of a left foot of his direct from a free-kick.
Stellini did his very best Conte impersonation, filling the technical area with all manner of Italianate prompts to keep the fire burning. Kane might have added a second after a brilliant Perisic counter down the left. He thought he had two minutes later only to have his effort ruled offside. By increments, the players were rebutting the whole sweep of Conte’s tactical approach. Not only were they creating chances, they were enjoying doing so.
What a way to win your group!!!
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 1, 2022
Hojbjerg scored this beauty with the last kick of the game to secure the top spot in group D having gone behind in the first half…
What a turn-around!!#UCL pic.twitter.com/PBITDlh9js
Conte might point to the VAR intervention that denied Spurs passage a week ago against Sporting as the principal cause of all this late jeopardy. Except it wasn’t. This was one of the easier groups to navigate. Spurs put themselves in danger just as much with limp efforts in Lisbon and Frankfurt, where they harvested just one point. In the context of recent form in the Premier League, the Marseille pickle slotted readily into a negative pattern. And let’s not pretend an added-time winner at Bournemouth at the weekend counters the argument.
Spurs surrendered the initiative by setting out to spoil. Yes, he was without Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski but this is Conte’s counter-punching blueprint. His minimalist reflex was exaggerated by needing no more than a draw to succeed. He got away with it in absentia here with a terrific late finish from Pierre Hojbjerg, but for how much longer? That is a question for another day, of course.
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