November 2 – Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scored an unlikely 95th-minute winner as Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to beat Marseille 2-1 and reach the UEFA Champions League knockout stage on Tuesday, where they were joined by Eintracht Frankfurt after their victory at Sporting Lisbon by the same score.
Elsewhere 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 their group with Liverpool second.
Atletico Madrid crashed out of Europe altogether with a loss to Porto, while Bayern Munich made it six wins from six matches by beating Inter Milan.
At a raucous Velodrome, Tottenham knew they would progress if they could avoid defeat by Marseille, although manager Antonio Conte had to watch from the stands after being sent off at the end of last week’s dramatic draw with Sporting.
Spurs suffered a first-half siege and fell behind just before the break when Chancel Mbemba headed in Jordan Veretout’s cross. The visitors were much improved after the restart and Clement Lenglet glanced in a 54th-minute equaliser but former Arsenal left-back Sead Kolasinac fluffed a glorious late opportunity to send Marseille through.
He was made to pay as Hojbjerg, who had already hit the bar with a thunderous effort, struck on the counter and Spurs suddenly snatched top spot in the group, in the process denying Marseille even the consolation of a Europa League place
Like Tottenham, Sporting only needed a point to qualify, this time at home, but Frankfurt came from behind to snatch victory, putting the Europa League holders into the last 16 and sending Sporting into Europe’s second-tier competition.
Remarkably Atletico, the 2014 and 2016 runners-up, missed out completely on a European spot as they lost to Porto.
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