Leipzig leave Tottenham a mountain to climb

LONDON: Tottenham need another Champions League escape act to reach the quarter-finals after Timo Werner’s penalty earned RB Leipzig a deserved 1-0 last 16, first leg win in London.

Spurs captain Hugo Lloris kept his side in the tie with a string of important saves, but last season’s finalists face a huge task to turn the tie around in Germany on March 10.

Without the firepower of the injured Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, Giovani lo Celso’s free-kick that struck the post was the closest Jose Mourinho’s men came to scoring on the night. Tottenham upset the odds to progress past Manchester City and Ajax in the knockout stages last season, but were lacking in ideas and energy compared to the Bundesliga contenders.

After receiving the news that Son could be sidelined for the rest of the season by a fractured right arm on the eve of the game, Mourinho compared his side’s prospects for the rest of the season to hanging from a fourth-floor building by the balcony.

The hosts could easily have fallen flat on their face inside the first 90 seconds as Leipzig amazingly passed up four chances to open the scoring. Patrik Schick flashed a shot wide from the edge of the box before Werner’s effort was blocked and Lloris turned Angelino’s driven shot onto the post.

Lloris then had to be alert again to deny Werner adding to his 25 goals this season from close range. After weathering that early storm, Spurs went close to at the other end through Steven Bergwijn.

The Dutch international has enjoyed an impressive start to his Tottenham career and forced Peter Gulacsi into a smart save low to his left. Leipzig could have regretted not making the most of their supremacy during the first 45 minutes as Gulacsi saved well from Lucas Moura and Bergwijn fired the rebound wide early in the second period.

However, after grinding out wins over Manchester City, Norwich, Southampton and Aston Villa in recent weeks despite conceding plenty of chances, Spurs’ luck ran out. An ill-timed lunge from Ben Davies chopped down Konrad Laimer inside the area and Werner confidently converted the resulting penalty.

Moments later only a fine save by Lloris denied Schick a second at the end of a flowing move involving Christopher Nkunku, Angelino and a delightful dummy from Werner to tee up his strike partner.

Meanwhile, Atalanta crushed Valencia 4-1 to take a giant step closer to reaching the quarter-finals for the first time. Dutch wing-back Hans Hateboer scored twice on 16 and 62 minutes, sandwiching goals from Josip Ilicic and Remo Freuler.

Denis Cheryshev pulled one back for Valencia in the first leg of their last-16 tie at the San Siro, the same stadium where the Spanish side lost the 2001 final to Bayern Munich on penalties.

Valencia were missing several key players through injury and suspension. Slovenian Ilicic and Papu Gomez spearheaded the Atalanta attack as Gian Piero Gasperini opted for a 3-4-1-2 formation.

The tournament debutants dominated the first half with Mario Pasalic having their first chance on eight minutes, but Valencia keeper Jaume Domenech pushed the ball over the bar at full stretch.

Hateboer opened the scoring just after quarter of an hour, though, meeting a low Gomez cross to poke past Domenech for his first goal of the season. Marten de Roon and Gomez both fired over before Ilicic collected Pasalic’s pass and drilled a powerful right-footed strike into the top corner three minutes before half-time.

Gasperini’s side put the result on the night beyond any doubt 12 minutes after the break as Freuler curled in a magnificent third from the edge of the box. Hateboer completed his brace five minutes later, ensuring that Atalanta’s 12 goals in their first Champions League campaign have been scored by 10 different players.