Tottenham Hotspur needed an inspiring European night at home if they wanted to progress to the quarter-finals, and were boosted by the presence of their coach Antonio Conte’s return to the touchline. Despite this, his side endured an underwhelming first half of football and were very much second-best to Stefano Pioli’s Milan, who themselves dominated for large periods but never really threatened the goal of Fraser Forster. The closest either side came to scoring was from a well-worked set piece by the visitors, with the ball worked to Junior Messias on the edge of the box but he dragged his effort wide, summing up a lacklustre first half.
After being booed off by the home fans at HT, the Spurs players failed to provide any inspiration in the second half and looked completely out of ideas going forward. Instead, it was Milan that came closest to opening the scoring from a counterattack that saw Brahim Díaz denied by Forster from point-blank range, and the Spurs goalkeeper had to be alive again soon after by making a brilliant save from Olivier Giroud's effort. Looking increasingly likely to bow out of European football once again, the Spurs players began pushing forward, leaving themselves open at the back, though Milan failed to make them pay.
A miserable night was further compounded as Cristian Romero was sent off for a second yellow card, summing up an incredibly disappointing night for the North-London outfit. With a man disadvantage and a goal-down on aggregate, it was a case of throwing everything forward for Spurs, but the Milan defence, and in particular Fikayo Tomori, defended their goal superbly, seeing out the draw on the night and victory on aggregate over two legs.
Exiting the UCL caps off a disappointing season for Tottenham Hotspur, who are left without a trophy once again, and it’s now 15 years since their League Cup win. Milan will be buoyed by their qualification to the quarter-finals after a disappointing domestic run has seen their defence of the Scudetto slip away, and they find themselves in a battle to make it into the top-four.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan)
