PARIS: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scored a 95th-minute winner as Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to beat Olympique de Marseille and reach the Champions League knockout stage, where they were joined by Eintracht Frankfurt after their victory at Sporting Lisbon.
At half-time in the final round of group matches on Tuesday, Marseille and Sporting were going through from Group ‘D’.
But instead it was their opponents who progressed as Hojbjerg’s goal saw Tottenham snatch a 2-1 win in Marseille to top the group and Eintracht won by the same score in Lisbon to secure second spot on their Champions League debut.
“During the first half we didn’t play well, it was difficult,” Tottenham goal-scorer Clement Lenglet said. “When we go back in the dressing room it was an important moment for the game … during the second half we played a better game, with a lot of intensity.”
The top two finishers in the other groups on Tuesday had already been decided, although not necessarily the order.
FC Porto beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 to snatch top spot in Group ‘B’ after Club Brugge were held to a 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen. Atletico crashed out of Europe altogether.
Liverpool ended Napoli’s unbeaten start to the season with a 2-0 success at Anfield, but the Italian club did enough to finish top of Group ‘A’.
Bayern Munich managed to progress with a perfect record as they beat Inter Milan 2-0 to make it six wins out of six. The four places in Group ‘C’ had already been decided with Inter having secured second spot ahead of Barcelona.
At a raucous State Velodrome, a draw for Tottenham would have been enough to reach the last 16 on a dramatic night — which saw all four sides in Group ‘D’ occupy the top two places at some stage during the final round of matches — although manager Antonio Conte had to watch from the stands after being red-carded in last week’s dramatic draw with Sporting.
Spurs were camped inside their own half for the majority of the first period and fell behind just before the break when Chancel Mbemba headed in Jordan Veretout’s cross after a quickly-taken corner.
The Premier League side were much improved after the restart and Lenglet glanced in a 54th-minute equaliser.
Former Arsenal left-back Sead Kolasinac nodded a glorious late opportunity to send Marseille through wide.
He was made to pay as Hojbjerg struck on the counter as Spurs snatched top spot in the group and denied Marseille the consolation of a Europa League place.
“I just spoke with Antonio. He’s tired because to watch from the crowd is not normal,” Tottenham assistant coach Cristian Stellini told BT Sport. “He wasted a lot of energy.”
That Hojbjerg goal pushed Eintracht down into second and kept Sporting in European competition.
Like Tottenham, Sporting only needed a point to qualify and they forged ahead six minutes before half-time as Arthur Gomes volleyed home at the back post.
But Eintracht, playing in the competition for the first time since losing the 1960 European Cup final to Real Madrid, did not give up and Daichi Kamada scored a 62nd-minute penalty awarded for handball.
Randal Kolo Muani provided the winning moment, latching onto Ansgar Knauff’s hooked pass and hammering the ball into the far corner.
The players celebrated wildly on the pitch after the Europa League holders’ latest European exploit, with Sporting coach Ruben Amorim left looking stunned on the touchline.
“We didn’t start well at the beginning of the game,” said Frankfurt midfielder Sebastian Rode. “But we are a comeback team, we gave everything in the second half and deservedly make the next round.”
Atletico don’t even have the consolation of the Europa League playoffs after the 2014 and 2016 runners-up failed to finish third in Group ‘B’.
The Spanish team were the heavy favourites to progress from the group but were left lamenting a last-place finish after losing at Porto.
Few expected Porto to even advance after losing their first two Champions League matches this season but the Portuguese team had already secured its place in the last 16 with a match to spare.
And first-half goals from Mehdi Taremi and Stephen Eustáquio helped Porto win their fourth straight Champions League match to finish a point above Brugge, while Ivan Marcano’s stoppage-time own goal was scant consolation for Atletico.
Leverkusen edged out Diego Simeone’s side on head-to-head points after a goalless home draw against Brugge.
Napoli were looking to become the first Italian team since AC Milan in 1992 to have six straight wins in their group.
However, late goals from Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez ended the Italian side’s unbeaten start to the season in all competitions.
Liverpool finished level on points with Napoli but second on the head-to-head record after losing 4-1 in Italy in their Champions League opener.
Ajax saw off Rangers 3-1 at Ibrox to inflict a sixth straight defeat in Group ‘A’ on the Scottish giants. Rangers finished with a goal difference of minus 20 — the worst group stage record ever.
Bayern finished with a 100-percent record by seeing off Inter at the Allianz Arena.
Benjamin Pavard headed the German side in front in the first half and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting sealed the win against Inter in the 72nd minute with his seventh goal in his past six matches.
Barca’s bitterly disappointing tournament came to an end with a 4-2 victory at bottom club Viktoria Plzen.
Barca will have to settle with being one of the favourites to win the Europa League.
“We’re one of the candidates, the Europa League is looking like a good competition, the objective is to reach the end and win it, compete for it,” said coach Xavi Hernandez.
Ferran Torres scored a brace, with Marcos Alonso and teenage midfielder Pablo Torre also on target. The hosts got on the board with a pair of goals by Tomas Chory.
Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2022