Tottenham’s Champions League campaign came to an early halt after Mauricio Pochettino’s men lost 2-1 to group leaders Monaco, leaving them with four points from five games with three defeats.

This means that Spurs cannot catch Bayer Leverkusen, three points ahead of the North Londoners even with a win on the last matchday as Leverkusen have the superior head-to-head record of both the teams.

Incidentally, one of the records that Monaco held, the most number of goals in a single Champions League game, achieved in a 8-3 win over Deportivo La Coruna on 5 November, 2003, was broken in Germany as Borussia Dortmund overcame Legia Warsaw 8-4 on a record-breaking night.

Flop show in France

In the end, Spurs squad depth was not enough for them to overcome the added rigours of a Champions League campaign as Hugo Lloris pulled off a string of saves but was unable to guide his team to victory.

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Pochettino deployed a much-changed line-up as Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen and Moussa Sissoko were all left on the bench and in came Kieran Trippier, Kevin Wimmer, Dele Alli and Harry Winks.

Lloris, who was outstanding on the night, saved Radamel Falcao’s first half spot-kick was saved by the Tottenham custodian. Monaco took the lead three minutes after the break when Benjamin Mendy fired in a cross from the left only for Djibril Sidibe to head home and give Monaco the lead.

Kamil Glik brought Dele Alli down in the box as the referee awarded a penalty to Spurs which Harry Kane converted to level things for Spurs. However, the visitors conceded 38 seconds after their equaliser as Sidibe turned provider for Thomas Lemar this time as the Frenchman shot through the legs of Trippier to give Monaco the win and top spot in Group E.

Records tumble in Germany

It was a night of frantic action at the Signal Iduna Park as Thomas Tuchel’s experimental side had enough in them to see off Legia Warsaw even as the two teams shared 12 goals between themselves.

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The biggest boost for the Germans was the return of Marco Reus, who bagged two goals on the night alongside Shinji Kagawa who also struck two goals.

Legia broke the record for most number of goals involved in at the Group Stage with 32 (8 scored and 24 conceded) as they also matched BATE Borisov’s record for most number of goals conceded in the group stage matches. Dortmund can go through with a point on the last matchday against Real Madrid.

Madrid secure knockout berth for 20th season running

Real Madrid qualified for the knockout stages for the 20th consecutive season as Madrid overcame a 10-man Sporting Lisbon in Portugal to seal progress.

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Raphael Varane gave Madrid a lead from close range and things went from bad to worse for Sporting who went one man down after defender Joao Pereira was dismissed on 64 minutes.

Sporting skipper Adrien Silva equalised from the spot after the ball had stuck Fabio Coentrao’s arm in the penalty box but it was Karim Benzema who came up with the winner three minutes from regulation time as the Frenchman headed Sergio Ramos’ cross back across goal and into the side netting.

The results:

  • CSKA Moscow 1 (Bibras Natcho) draw Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Kevin Volland) 
  • Monaco 2 (Djibril Sidibe, Thomas Lemar) beat Tottenham Hotspurs 1 (Harry Kane penalty)
  • Sporting Lisbon 1 (Adrien Silva penalty) lose to Real Madrid 2 (Raphael Varane, Karim Benzema)
  • Borussia Dortmund 8 (Shinji Kagawa X 2, Nuri Sahin, Ousmane Dembele, Marco Reus X 2, Felix Passlack, Jakub Rzezniczak own goal) beat Legia Warsaw 4 (Aleksandar Prijovic X 2, Michal Kucharczyk, Nemanja Nikolic)
  • Leicester City 2 (Shinji Okazaki, Riyad Mahrez penalty) beat Club Brugge 1 (Jose Izquierdo)
  • FC Kobenhavn 0 draw with FC Porto 0
  • Sevilla 1 (Nicolas Pareja) lose to Juventus 3 (Claudio Marchisio, Leonardo Bonucci, Mario Mandzukic)
  • Dinamo Zagreb 0 lose to Lyon 1 (Alexandre Lacazette)