Tottenham beat Marseille to reach knockout stages

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg celebrates his winner

Goals from Clement Lenglet and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg saw Tottenham come from behind to advance to the Champions League knockout stages with a 2-1 victory at Marseille on Tuesday.

Spurs knew a point in France would be enough to send them through, but Chancel Mbemba’s powerful strike put them a goal down at half-time.

However, Lenglet nodded home from Ivan Perisic’s set-piece shortly after the break before Hojbjerg smashed home in injury time to seal Spurs’ place in the next round.

The victory means Spurs finish as Group D winners as they reach the knockout stages of the competition for the first time since 2019-20.

The hosts started well in front of their vociferous fans, Alexis Sanchez nearly giving them an early lead with a header that flew just past the post before Hugo Lloris punched away a fierce drive from the former Arsenal forward.

Largely pinned back by the hosts, Spurs were dealt another blow when Son Heung-min was forced off with a head injury, before Lloris was needed again to beat away a Jordan Veretout half-volley.

Mbemba gave Marseille the advantage in first-half injury time with a towering header into the bottom left corner, giving Lloris no chance as Spurs’ marking left a lot to be desired.

Spurs came out of the interval firing, and they were level in the 54th minute when Lenglet nodded Perisic’s excellent free-kick delivery into the back of the net.

Amine Harit’s long-range effort fizzed just over the crossbar as the French side pushed for a winner that would have sent them through, though Hojbjerg rattled the woodwork at the other end.

Sead Kolasinac missed a great opportunity when he headed wide late on, and Hojbjerg’s powerful injury-time finish off the post as Spurs countered put his side through as group winners.

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