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Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt have booked Champions League last-16 berths with 2-1 comeback victories in a thrilling finale to Group D.
While earlier on Tuesday, Diego Simeone saw his Atletico Madrid team – twice Champions League finalists during his tenure – tumble out of Europe entirely after a 2-1 defeat by Porto.
Tottenham came from behind to beat Marseille 2-1 thanks to last-kick Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg goal, securing a spot in the final 16.
The late drama meant Tottenham topped the group ahead of Europa League champions Frankfurt who rallied in Lisbon against Sporting.
“We expected that type of game. It was a very difficult place to deal with and we showed great personality,” Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said.
Spurs, whose coach Antonio Conte was banned from the touchline after a red card in the previous game against Sporting, lost forward Son Heung-min with a head injury after an aerial battle.
Arthur Gomes had given the Portuguese side a first-half lead, before Daichi Kamada and Randal Kolo Muani hit back for Frankfurt after the break.
“We have written history again. We are enjoying ourselves,” Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp told streaming portal DAZN.
Diego Simeone has twice led Atletico Madrid to the Champions League final, but this season his team are already out of Europe completely.
With Bayer Leverkusen holding Bruges to a stalemate in Germany that left Atletico bottom of group B and failing even to gain the consolation prize of a place in the Europa League play-off.
That instead went to Leverkusen while Porto, having leapfrogged Bruges, will be seeded in the Champions League last 16 knock-out stage.
Mehdi Taremi opened the scoring in Portugal in the fifth minute for the 1987 and 2004 winners Porto with an easy tap-in, and Stephen Eustaquio fired into the bottom left corner for 2-0.
Atletico, runners-up twice in the last eight years, only got a stoppage time consolation goal from Ivan Marcano’s own goal.
Porto’s win over Atletico Madrid put them top of the group and left the Spanish side bottom for the first time ever in the group stage, without even the consolation of a Europa League place.
“If you only win one match in the group stage you don’t deserve anything. Not the Champions League round of 16 nor the Europa League,” Atlético forward Antoine Griezmann said.
“Now it’s time to shut our mouths, work and fight. Our fan base does not deserve this.”
Bruges might have rescued them but Tajon Buchanan hit the crossbar shortly after the restart.
Leverkusen’s best chance came seven minutes later when Patrik Schick’s point-blank header was tipped over the bar by Simon Mignolet.
In other results, Bayern Munich beat Inter Milan 2-0 to finish the group stage with a perfect six wins out of six.
In Group A, Liverpool would have required a win by four goals to dethrone Napoli as pool winners.
That never happened but they at least got the win from late goals by Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez.
Third-placed Ajax won 3-1 at Rangers, meaning the Scottish club recorded the worst ever Champions League record.
Rangers lost all six games and finished with a goal difference of minus-20 – one more than the previous record set by Dinamo Zagreb in 2011/12.
The last two round-of-16 berths will be decided on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), in matches between RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk, and AC Milan and Red Bull Salzburg.
© AAP
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