More misery for Mourinho as Spurs crash out of the Champions League
Munich, Wednesday
Miracles don’t happen every season. That’s why they’re miracles.So there was no heart-stopping comeback for Tottenham in Leipzig, no incredible second-half resurrection.
They lost and were outplayed away, just as they were at home, except by a bigger and thoroughly humbling margin.
The tie was as good as done after 21 minutes when a second RB Leipzig goal on the night from Marcel Sabitzer left Tottenham chasing three; but a late third from the Germans put this into sharper perspective.
Leipzig were a good three goals better on the night and, in all truthfulness, Tottenham didn’t look likely to get one, let alone the four they would have required to progress.
Late in the second-half when Lucas Moura at last found Dele Alli in front of goal, he shot tamely at Peter Gulacsi, who caught it with his feet firmly planted.
If there was even a hint of a Tottenham revival, and there was barely that, it was only because Leipzig were probably a little surprised to be leading 3-0 on aggregate and didn’t quite know whether to push for more, or settle.
In the end, they pushed. Emil Forsberg came on for the night’s hero Sabitzer and scored in the 87th minute with his first touch after Tottenham, again, failed to deal with a cross from former Manchester City full-back Angelino.
Meanwhile, Four goals from Josip Ilicic have secured Atalanta’s qualification to the quarter finals of the Champions League over Valencia.
The Slovenian struck twice from the penalty spot as the La Liga side were unable to overturn their heavy 4-1 defeat in the first leg.
A brace from Kevin Gameiro and a lofted finish from Ferran Torres were posted in reply by Valencia but they never looked likely to cause an upset following their thrashing in Italy. -AFP
