Harry Kane teased Marseille fans on Instagram on Tuesday evening after Tottenham Hotspur secured a late 2-1 win in France to go through as Group D winners – after fireworks had woken up the Spurs team outside their hotel at 3am.
Ahead of a pivotal game in the Champions League, where winner would take all, Marseille fans tried to unsettle Spurs. The night before the game, Marseille supporters set off fireworks outside of the hotel at 3am, to wake the players up.
But it did not work. That is, even after Tottenham were poor in the first half, and almost threw their position in the group away. Chancel Mbemba broke the deadlock in first-half injury time, with Spurs playing incredibly negatively.
In the second 45, acting manager Cristian Stellini seemingly gave the Spurs players the chance to play with freedom. It worked. Clement Lenglet made it 1-1 from an Ivan Perisic free-kick. Then, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scored a late winner.
So, the fireworks did not work. The atmosphere ultimately, did not hinder Tottenham. Ultimately, Spurs go through into the knockout stages as Group D winners and Marseille are out of Europe. Kane teased Marseille after the match.
Kane teases Marseille fans after Tottenham win, after firework incident
Ultimately, the fireworks was always going to inspire Tottenham – rather than physically drain them. It would have brought the team together, making them think that they had to get a result. More determined, a reason to fight.
The atmosphere at the Velodrome was bouncing. Marseille’s ultras were allowed in from 4pm – four hours before kick-off – to prepare. But it was not enough. Spurs went on to win 2-1 and Marseille were the reason for their downfall.
Ultimately, they would have been in the Europa League after Christmas if they had not gone full gung-ho late on. But they did, striving to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages. It left them open, and Spurs got a winner.
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