Soccer

Hojbjerg completes Spurs comeback at Marseille to win group

Winner late into stoppage time means sees Antonio Conte’s side steal the group on a wild night in France

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring the winner against Marseille. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring the winner against Marseille. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images
David Hytner
Tue Nov 01 2022 - 22:48

Marseille 1 (Mbemba 45+2) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Lenglet 54, Hojbjerg 90+5)

It was wild, it was intense and it rested on the edge of a knife. Tottenham did that thing they have done too readily of late and failed to show up in the first half. When they trailed at the break to Chancel Mbemba’s header, it was the least that Marseille deserved. The French club were in line for a first qualification to the Champions League knockout phase since 2011-12.

It had been billed as a psychological test for Spurs; the din inside this caldron was relentless. Now it became something even greater. Staring at elimination, Spurs had to dig deep into the depths of their resolve, to show their personality. During a second half that will live long in the memories of the travelling fans, they did so.

It was Clément Lenglet who found the precious equaliser, a firm header from Ivan Perisic’s wonderful free-kick before Pierre-Emile Højbjerg struck the dramatic winner in injury time to secure top spot for Tottenham.

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Spurs got home. The suspended Antonio Conte, sitting in the stands after his red card against Sporting last week, could exhale.

The Virage Nord behind one of the goals stood empty and it was important to remember why. A Marseille supporter has been charged with attempted murder after he fired a flare that seriously injured an Eintracht Frankfurt rival during the tie between the clubs in September. So the stadium was about 13,000 down on capacity but those present were determined to make up for it, the Ultras rehoused in the opposite end.

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The atmosphere here is an assault on the senses. It had built outside in the hours before kick-off, the jump-out-of-your-skin bangers going off everywhere, and the fans were bouncing en masse in the stands 30 minutes before we got started. It was impossible to ignore the feeling that Spurs needed to play the occasion as much as the opponent.

What a test it was for Conte, partly of his temperament because he would have hated being confined to the stands. He was bold with his lineup, picking the one that most supporters would have wanted – no Emerson Royal or Davinson Sánchez, both Perisic and Ryan Sessegnon, an extra attacker in Lucas Moura rather than an extra midfielder.

Clement Lenglet scores Tottenham's equaliser against Olympique Marseille at Orange Velodrome.
Clement Lenglet scores Tottenham's equaliser against Olympique Marseille at Orange Velodrome.

It was an attempt to stamp out the flatness that had coloured the team’s recent performances at the start of matches, to get up the field, but it did not work. Conte would switch to 3-5-2 in the 29th minute when Son Heung-min was forced off after Mbemba caught him across the face with a shoulder as he stepped up to contest a header. Son was scrambled. It looked a bad one. On came Yves Bissouma at the base of a three-man midfield.

Up to that point, Spurs had failed to connect their passing game. There were precious few options for the player on the ball and it would only get worse for them before the interval. In truth, the formation looked more like 5-3-2, the wing-backs deep. Everybody was deep. Spurs showed next to nothing in proactive terms in the first half, their priority being solidity, keeping men behind the ball.

Marseille had squeezed high upon the first whistle. They won the duels and they would be rewarded for their adventure. The breakthrough had been signposted. Alexis Sánchez, the former Arsenal striker, glanced an early header past the far post from Amine Harit’s cross and Hugo Lloris needed to save smartly from a Jordan Veretout blast on 34 minutes following a Sessegnon miskick.

The first-half errors belonged to Spurs. They looked nervous. They invited Marseille on to them. And they went behind when they froze on a Marseille corner which had been worked short to Veretout.

He crossed deep and nobody picked the late run of Mbemba, who thumped his header past Lloris. Sessegnon had shepherded the ball over the line for the corner, believing that the last touch had been off a Marseille player. He was wrong.

Deep into the seven minutes of first-half stoppage time, Pau López tipped a long-ranger from Harry Kane over the crossbar (the shot looked to be going high) and, when the corner was half-cleared, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg lashed wide. It was a start. Spurs needed more.

They got it early in the second half, after resuming with greater purpose. There was more assurance in possession, players looking forward not sideways. Rodrigo Bentancur almost found Kane in the middle after a surge onto a ball from Royal, who had come on for the out-of-sorts Sessegnon.

The equaliser was all about the whip and precision of Perisic’s free-kick delivery from the left. Lenglet shoved Valentin Rongier out of the way and then got up to nod home. Up in the stands, Conte betrayed no emotion. His insides presumably churned.

Belatedly, there was freedom to Spurs’s game and as Marseille pushed to regain the advantage – Harit flashed one shot high – the visitors threatened to pick them off.

Kane ought to have scored on 64 minutes but he could not react after López spilled a Royal cross. Kane also had the ball in the net only to be pulled back for offside. — Guardian