“Tottenham” and “Eintracht” played on the verge of relegation – Sport – Kommersant
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In the football Champions League, two more play-off participants became known, and both went there from group D. Tottenham, losing to Marseille during the match, won 2-1 and took first place with 11 points. Eintracht, which also won a strong-willed victory over Sporting – 2: 1, became the second with 10 points.
It was frankly tight with intrigue before the final sixth round of the Champions League group stage, because 12 out of 16 tickets to the playoffs had already been taken apart. So, in quartets A, B and C, where the last matches took place on Tuesday, all participants of the 1/8 finals were determined ahead of schedule. And Bayern even secured the first place in advance, so their meeting with Inter was probably not so much a sporting one as a commercial one, given that each victory in the main round of the tournament is supported by solid bonuses. Both teams put up, as they say, mixed lineups, nevertheless, Munich still won 2-0 thanks to goals from Benjamin Pavard and Eric Choupo-Moting, showing a 100% result in Group C. Barcelona, which became the third, finally practiced at Victoria – 4 :2.
Yes, and in the confrontation between Liverpool and Napoli, the first place was played out only purely theoretically. In Naples, the English club suffered a defeat too big – 1:4 to count on winning in Group A. To do this, he needed to defeat Napoli at home with a difference of at least “plus four”, which a priori seemed absolutely impossible, given the current the state of the Italian team, which is now in great order, and the same Liverpool, which this season is by no means as good as before. The home walls of Anfield helped the hosts to defeat the leader of the Italian championship with a score of 2:0. The first goal was recorded on Mohamed Salah, who topped the list of top scorers in the current Champions League with seven goals scored. Liverpool with 15 points caught up, but did not overtake Napoli. The third place was taken by Ajax, who figured out away with the Rangers – 3:1.
Well, in group B, the struggle for first place between Brugge and Porto, who scored ten and nine points respectively in five rounds, ended in favor of the Portuguese club. In a home meeting with Atlético, by the middle of the first half, he had already led 2-0. First, Evanilson brought Mehdi Taremi to an empty net, and then Steven Eushtakiou hit the gate of Jan Oblak. And this is the Madrid goalkeeper saved his team a couple of times before the break. In the second half, Porto continued to attack more sharply, while Oblak rescued Atlético. The hosts still scored one more goal, but into their own net after Ivan Marcano’s cut.
Meanwhile, Club Brugge played a clean sheet with local Bayer Leverkusen in Leverkusen, and Porto finished with 12 points ahead of them by one point. At the same time, Bayer got into the Europa League from third place, which surpassed Atlético in additional indicators, taking four points in personal meetings. Thus, the Spanish giant generally said goodbye to European competition.
And only in group D, nothing was clear until the very end. Moreover, all four clubs claimed to reach the play-offs here, since the gap between first-placed Tottenham and fourth-placed Marseille was only two points. Moreover, in the sixth round, the French team hosted the English team, and thanks to the factor of their field, it could well be considered a shadow favorite. True, if the Marseillais with their six points only got a pass in the 1/8 finals, then the Londoners with eight points were also satisfied with a draw.
Meanwhile, already in the debut, the hosts lost central defender Eric Beyi due to an injury, who literally returned to action by this match, having healed a muscle injury in the back of the thigh. So I had to urgently change him to the former Spartak player Samuel Gigot. And another central defender, Chansel Mbemba, scored in stoppage time for the first half. Marseille took advantage of the confusion in the guests’ penalty area during a corner kick, and Jordan Veretout crossed the ball to the bouncy Congolese. And although it was a standard, the goal really followed from the logic of the match, in which Igor Tudor’s wards showed more zeal. And Tottenham certainly lacked on the edge of the field of his head coach Antonio Conte, who was serving a suspension for a red card in the previous round. However, after the break, the Londoners also used the standard position, and again the central defender, Clement Lenglet, closed the supply of Ivan Perisic with his head. The denouement took place in the last seconds, when the Marseilles ran into a counterattack, and Pierre-Emile Hoybjerg brought Tottenham a victory – 2: 1.
In the Sporting-Eintracht match, to which both teams approached with seven points, Lisbon seemed to have a slightly higher chance of success. Still, they also played at home, besides, they won 3:0 in Frankfurt. They were even satisfied with a draw due to the advantage over the German club on goal difference – 7:7 against 5:7. However, the owners decided not to tempt fate and tried to protect themselves. One of their attacks at the end of the first half led to the fact that the ball, after a rebound, landed right on the leg of Artur Gomez, and the Brazilian ferried him into the net. But already in the second half, Eintracht managed to earn a penalty, and Daichi Kamada did not miss from the spot. And then the guests completely took the lead – 2:1, when Randal Kolo Muani demonstrated his power. As it turned out, this was a key episode that opened the way to the playoffs for Eintracht. Frankfurt went there from second place, and Tottenham from first. Sporting will continue to play in the Europa League, while Marseille has finished its Euroseason.
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