Tottenham were knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage by AC Milan after losing 1-0 on aggregate. Spurs knew they had to score at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday evening to have any chance of advancing, but Antonio Conte's men put in a drab attacking and toothless display ending the game with ten men and just two shots on target.
Spurs were coming into the game off the back of two disappointing results against Sheffield United in the FA Cup and Wolves in the Premier League. A significant fixture under the lights was the perfect opportunity for Spurs to give themselves something to fight for this season, but once again they fell short.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had Spurs' first shot on target around the hour mark before Mike Maignan clawed away a late Harry Kane header. In between those two chances, Cristian Romero was sent for a second bookable offence to make Spurs' task even harder.
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To those inside the stadium Conte then made a baffling decision to bring on Davinson Sanchez for Dejan Kulusevski. A defender for an attacker when Spurs were in desperate need of a goal and it was a substitution that was heavily booed with a Mauricio Pochettino chant developing soon after.
Spurs are 18 points off the top of the Premier League which all but certainly means it will be another season without a trophy and therefore another campaign of disappointment. Here is how the National media reacted to Spurs' European exit.
The Guardian
Before this last-16 second leg, Son Heung-min had announced that Tottenham Hotspur intended to “make a statement”. And so they did. That statement was: this is not a very good Tottenham Hotspur team. Rather this felt like a Spurs team reaching the end of something, without clarity or craft or any real sense of life; a team that is facing up now to another season of chasing another season of chasing another season of … well, what exactly?
There are good 0-0 draws. There are heroic exits, games where you chase the sun and come up short. This wasn’t any of those things. Instead, this was a night that seemed to raise some very basic questions about what Spurs are for, what this entity is intended to express
A team that is just good enough has been built to play football that is just good enough, cashing in on the happy accident of a single home-grown world-class player, teasing its fans with the sense of standing quite near to other people’s success. And not just once, but year after year, following the same patterns.
What is the point of the rest of Spurs’ league season from here? A desperate push to finish fourth in order to do all this over again? What is the point of erecting this mimesis of an ambitious team? Who, exactly, is enjoying this, destined to look back on it all as the days of their lives? This is product. Stuff on a stage. They have a go-kart show here too apparently.
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The Telegraph
Booed off and booted out. Antonio Conte was back but this will probably be his last Champions League match as the head coach of Tottenham. They departed the competition with the lamest performance they have produced on this stage with boos at half-time, then again when Conte replaced forward Dejan Kulusevski for defender Davinson Sanchez as they desperately searched for a goal, and at an angry full-time.
Poor Harry Kane and, surely, he cannot carry on much longer in the Lilywhite shirt. The striker did not receive any service from such a chronically uncreative team and yet almost improbably provoked extra-time with a late, late header that finally forced a save from Milan’s under-worked goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
That would have been unjust on the Italian champions who deservedly earned a quarter-final place, and should have won this game, although they will have been shocked by how comfortable it all was. Spurs’ cause was not helped by the dismissal of Cristian Romero who was a headless liability in defence and had to go having launched himself at Theo Hernandez by the touchline to earn a second yellow card while Conte stood and stared at his shoes in the damp north London air. It summed it all up.
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Evening Standard
Tottenham crashed out on the Champions League on Wednesday night after another lacklustre display against AC Milan, who win 1-0 on aggregate.
It was the second damaging cup exit in a week for Spurs, who last week lost to Sheffield United in the FA Cup. Deafening boos met the full-time whistle.
Their exit heaped further doubt over boss Antonio Conte's future and the Italian's likely exit might well be expedited after the atmosphere turned toxic with the fans angrily voicing their disapproval at full-time.
This was as bad a performance as Spurs could have put in and never looked like turning the tie around, managing just two efforts on target. Cristian Romero only made matters worse with the unprofessional way he was sent off in the final 15 minutes. Harry Kane almost forced extra time with a late header.
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