Thierry Henry has stated that Marseille fans’ actions, before Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 Champions League win at the Stade Velodrome, was ‘typical’, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (01/11/22 at 7:10 pm).
The evening before the game, footage emerged of Marseille ultras outside of Tottenham’s hotel room, lighting fireworks and seemingly having a party.
They did everything they could to try and disrupt the Premier League side as they prepared for what seemingly turned out to be a knockout Champions League tie.
Even the build-up to the match, the scenes before kick-off could have been pretty intimidating for some.
That probably filtered out onto the pitch because, in the first half, Antonio Conte’s side were nowhere near it, 1-0 down and struggling to get out of their own defensive third, nevermind their own half.
But, with the likes of Harry Kane, Ivan Perisic, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on the pitch, they turned the switch on and outclassed the Ligue 1 side in the second half.
France international, Clement Lenglet equalised on home soil, which put Spurs through, before Hojbjerg made sure of the points in stoppage-time to silence the home support, as Henry and Guillem Balague had this to say before the game.
“But I sense there is a bit of an edge here,” said European Football expert Guillem Balague. “The fans were, from 1 in the morning to 4 in the morning, outside the Spurs hotel throwing fireworks – I don’t know if I should be scared or excited about being here.”
Henry added: “It’s a nice way to put it (that there is a bit of an edge). Very polite,” he smiled. “That’s typical Marseille. There is an edge. It’s outstanding when the team wins. When they don’t, then it can be very difficult for their own team.
“Let’s be positive about it. You don’t see that often. That happens also in the league, I can assure you that when they play Paris, they play Lyon at the weekend, you will have that. They are in front of the stadium three to four hours before. Flairs, singing and dancing.
“Yes, there is a bit of an edge.”
TOTTENHAM SHOW BOTTLE
Going back to last season under Conte, Spurs have shown serious bottle, they scored a stoppage-time winner against Watford on New Year’s Day, that stunning win at Man City, the outrageous comeback against Leicester and their season-defining performance against Arsenal.
During this campaign, Harry Kane scored a late header to earn a point at Stamford Bridge, their valuable point against Sporting, the comeback win at Bournemouth and now possibly the best of the lot, seeing out Marseille in such difficult circumstances.
Conte has well and truly changed the mindset at Hotspur Way.
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