By Betsefy
Tottenham Hotspur assistant manager Cristian Stellini has hailed his side’s “fantastic” second half performance after a last-gasp 2-1 win over Marseille sealed their place in the last-16 of the Champions League.
The Lilywhites entered the final matchday in Group D one point clear of Eintracht Frankfurt and Sporting Lisbon and simply needed to avoid defeat at the Orange Velodrome to progress.
During the night, Tottenham were reportedly woken up twice by fireworks let off by Marseille fans outside the team hotel, and the North London club were under the cosh in the first half.
Marseille deservedly found themselves 1-0 up on the stroke of half time through Chancel Mbemba‘s header, but Clement Lenglet levelled for Tottenham nine minutes after the restart.
With the tie seemingly destined to end goalless – which would have placed Spurs in second place – Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg fired home a winner right at the death after Marseille had committed several bodies forward.
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Antonio Conte celebrated from the stands amid his touchline ban, and Stellini claimed that the Tottenham boss was “very tired” after speaking with his superior in the wake of the Lilywhites’ first-placed finish and subsequent progression.
“I’ve had the possibility to talk with Antonio. He was very tired. He lived the game in the crowd, it’s not normal. Maybe he spent more energy in the stands than on the touchline,” Stellini said in his post-game press conference.
“It was very difficult in the first half and in our difficulties we didn’t lose our mind, we stayed in the match. It was a terrible goal we conceded. The kick was taken quickly and we didn’t react and we have to learn from that.
“In the second half something changed and we spoke a lot in the dressing room about the energy we need in the second half about how we need to press them. In the first half we never did that. In the second this aspect change and we played a fantastic second half.”
Having gone through as group winners, Tottenham have managed to avoid a last-16 tie with the likes of Napoli, Porto and Bayern Munich, although they could still meet Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid depending on Wednesday’s results.
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Inter Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia Dortmund and Club Brugge are all potential last-16 opponents for Tottenham, whose victory was soured by a worrying injury to Son Heung-min.
The 30-year-old suffered a sickening clash of heads with Mbemba and was immediately taken off amid fears of a concussion, putting him at risk for the weekend’s clash with Liverpool.
When asked for an update on Son’s condition, Stellini appeared rather optimistic about the situation after Son was able to join in with the dressing-room celebrations.
“We have to check on him tomorrow but Son felt better in the dressing room after the game and he was able to celebrate. We’re not sure if it is concussion yet. It was an injury to his face, his eye is swollen,” Stellini added.
In the other game in Group D, Frankfurt pipped Sporting Lisbon to the second and final qualification spot after coming from behind to record their own 2-1 victory, with the Portuguese side dropping down to the Europa League and Marseille being eliminated from Europe altogether.
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