Tottenham: “Within 10 seconds, we were playing a European Cup”, the incredible end of the match that changes everything

At the Velodrome stadium,

An unmistakable whim, which ultimately changes everything. Olympique de Marseille play the 88th minute of their last Champions League group match against Tottenham and Sead Kolasinac in the round of 16 qualification at the end of the skull. But his head, too pricked, brushes the post of Hugo Lloris, to end up in the billboards. “If he had been able to put it on, we would be in the Champions League”, coldly analyzed Igor Tudor, afterwards.

In the end, the exact opposite happened. Less than 10 minutes later, the 94th minute has just been displayed for a few seconds, Guendouzi makes his touch towards Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean hands him the ball, and rather than throwing a long ball into the opposing area, where three Marseilles await him at the fallout, the French international tries to find Under. The ball is finally pushed back by a defender, and the unthinkable happens.

“We should have kept this 1-1”

Harry Kane, however non-existent throughout the match, made the effort to recover the ball in the Marseille part, which was only covered by the Marseille striker in the evening, Chancel Mbemba. The Englishman quietly launches the Franco-Danish Pierre-Emile Højbjerg in depth. Seeing the worst looming, Nuno Tavares made the effort to come back from the London area while Amine Harit did not even retreat fifteen meters. And Højbjerg sends a surgical strike on the returning post of Pau Lopez to shower the hopes of an entire stadium, an entire club and an entire city. Finally, only Igor Tudor, largely outside his technical area, seemed really capable of intervening on Kane.

The 94th minute and 24th second has just appeared, and Olympique de Marseille is eliminated from the Champions League. But also of the Europa League since the draw would have allowed the Marseillais to be overthrown in C3 thanks to the victory acquired by Frankfurt against Sporting Portugal, in the other match of the group.

“It’s normal to push to score this second goal and qualify for the round of 16. But after Sead’s missed chance [Kolasinac], we should have kept this 1-1”, regretted Mattéo Guendouzi, quickly joined by a crestfallen Amine Harit: “Frankly it is difficult to say that within 10 seconds, we could play a European Cup . Even if it’s not the one we wanted to play…”

Except that the Marseille players were not even aware of the result of the other match, and therefore of their qualification for the Europa League in the event of a draw. A lack of communication pointed out by Mattéo Guendouzi and Amine Harit in the mixed zone, which is explained by “the noise” of the Vélodrome stadium according to Igor Tudor. When we say incredible…