UCL: Tottenham advance after late rally against Marseille

Tottenham players celebrate after Clement Lenglet canceled out Chancel Mbemba's opener in their Champions League group game on Tuesday. Tottenham beat Marseille 2-1 at the Stade Velodrome. (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

Tottenham Hotspur left it late away at the Stade Velodrome to advance as group winners in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.

Antonio Conte’s men had a scare early on as Korean star Heung Min Son was subbed off due to a nasty collision midway into the first half and it went from bad to worse in the last minute of the half when Chancel Mbemba fired past Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal for the game’s curtain raiser.

Spurs already lost Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski to injuries and wouldn’t wish to add another player to the list but even without their head coach who was serving a one-match touchline ban, the North London side rallied in the second half to earn full points and topped the group.

Clement Lenglet headed home from an Ivan Perisic cross early in the second half to level things; at that point, a point would have earned Spurs qualification to the round of 16 but they’d be behind Frankfurt who won away at Sporting.

With the last kick of the game, big Dane Pierre Emile Hojberg fired home a screamer from the edge of the box as the hosts chased the game at the other end. The big goal took Spurs to the top of the table and knocked out Marseille from Europe altogether.

Frankfurt finished second behind Spurs while Sporting Lisbon dropped to the Europa League having had a decent start to life in the competition.