Spurs dumped out of Champions League by Monaco

Tottenham’s Champions League campaign hopes are over following a 2-1 defeat to Monaco at Stade Louis II.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side needed at least a point to keep their hopes alive going into the final round of Group E matches, but in truth were by far second best throughout against Leonardo Jardim’s team, and never looked deserving of a point.

All three goals came in a five-minute period just after half-time with a Djibril Sidibe header starting the goal rush, before Harry Kane equalised from the spot, only for Thomas Lemar to put Monaco back in front 40 seconds later.

That was to be the way it stayed until the final whistle as Spurs were eliminated and Monaco advance to the last-16 as Group E winners with Bayer Leverkusen qualifying in second.

Spurs should have been ahead very early on when Son Heung-Min found himself one-on-one with Monaco keeper Danijel Subasic but in attempting to round the goalie took himself far too wide and was edged out by the defence.

In fact, Spurs were lucky not to be behind on ten minutes as Dele Alli was caught twice in possession, and Fabinho attempted to cut into the box ahead of Eric Dier, with the England international chopping down the Brazilian midfielder and the referee pointing to the spot. Hugo Lloris came to Dier’s rescue, however, with a fantastic save from Falcao's penalty, getting down low and right to palm away.

Monaco continued to press as Benjamin Mendy got away down the left and fired in a shot at goal from a tight angle, which Lloris again did well to palm away. The game was a hugely open affair at this stage with Monaco having another chance minutes later. Mendy again escaped down the left and crossed far right to Valere Germain for a clear header only to head at Kevin Wimmer's chest before Spurs scrambled clear.

Spurs were bossing possession with 62% approaching half-time but simply couldn’t find the requisite connection in the final third.

Kane had a gilt-edged chance to break the deadlock when the ball fell perfectly for him as it dropped on the edge of the area, but the star man miscued his effort.

Monaco very nearly found themselves in a lot of trouble when Kamil Glik stamped on Kane’s backside, only for referee Bjorn Kuipers to award just a free-kick as the sides ended level at the break despite Monaco having 17 touches in the box to Spurs’ three.

However, they didn’t have to wait much longer as through their first attack after the break Monaco took the lead. Mendy burst forward from left back, beat his marker, and crossed to the centre for Sidibe to power home a header past Lloris.

With that opener the game burst into life as Spurs went down the other end with a long-ball forward to Alli, he claimed and touched the ball past Glik, who pulled him down for a penalty. Kane stood up and smashed the ball right, where Subasic got a touch, but not enough of one to stop the effort hitting the back of the net.

It became three goals in five minutes as Monaco broke immediately, Sidibe crossing from the right to Lemar in acres of space to smash home bottom right.

It could have been three with 20 minutes to go only for a stunning Lloris save. Lemar delivered a superb ball into the box for Glik to lash the ball at goal and Lloris to block and push over with one arm.

Lloris made another stunning save when Falcao was played into the box as the Spurs defence was caught napping and the keeper pushed a point-blank effort away to his right.

As the game ticked towards its conclusion and Spurs became increasingly desperate for a goal they had a huge chance to get it. From a Christian Eriksen corner the ball reached Alli at the far post only to glance wide with his right foot and with it went Spurs’ Champions League hopes and dreams for another season at least.

Photo (©Getty Images/Michael Steele)

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