Marseille boss Igor Tudor was punished for trying to save key players - and playing Arsenal ’s Nuno Tavares - before his team's Champions League showdown with Tottenham.
The Ligue 1 side led 2-0 at half-time away at Strasbourg before Tudor made two subs - and then another three changes during the second half. But on-loan Gunners left-back Tavares had a shocker for the second 45 minutes as the hosts fought back to draw 2-2.
Croat Tudor said: “I am sad and particularly disappointed because at half-time, we should have been leading 5-0. We have to kill this match. The two goals were conceded much too easily.”
Marseille go into the Spurs encounter dubbed “the match of the year” by Tudor after taking only one point from their last four Ligue 1 matches. But a victory at the Stade Velodrome on Tuesday could see them go from the bottom to the top of Group D.
Spurs won the reverse fixture back in September, with summer signing Richarlison scoring both goals in a 2-0 victory. The Brazilian missed the last European game through injury, though, with Spurs held to a 1-1 draw at home to Sporting Lisbon.
A point for Antonio Conte's men in the final group game would be enough to see them through to the last 16, while a win would ensure they go through as group winners. A defeat, however, could see them drop into the Europa League.
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Tavares endured a difficult first season in the Premier League last term after joining Arsenal from Benfica. The Portuguese under-21 international struggled to assert himself as an option at left-back while colleagues missed out through injury, prompting the Gunners to send him on loan to Marseille.
"The future? I do not think about it," he said earlier in October. "I live in the moment day by day. I have no prospects, I keep my feet on the ground. The World? I don't really think about it. My goal is to do a good job at OM.
"I came to Marseille to finally be able to play in my position. When signing with OM, I wanted to have an option to buy, but Arsenal refused.
"With my agents, we always wanted this purchase option, but Arsenal didn't. Now I'm at OM, and with or without an option, I'm happy. At Arsenal, I would have probably only played in the cup."
Marseille finished second in Ligue 1 last season, enough to earn themselves a spot in this season's Champions League, but results this season have been less impressive. The draw at Strasbourg leaves them down in fifth, six points adrift of second-place Lens and 11 adrift of league leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
