Marseille fans let off fireworks outside Tottenham’s team hotel in a dirty tricks campaign the night before their Champions League showdown.
The Marseille “ultras” set off the fireworks at 1.30am and 4.30am in the early hours of Tuesday morning in what was a “very prolonged” attempt to disrupt Tottenham ’s preparations. It is believed to have woken up Antonio Conte’s players ahead of their final Group match in the French city.
Sky Italia have shown video footage of the fireworks exploding above the team base in Marseille. It was a lively night in Marseille as it has been a national holiday and there were street parties throughout the city to celebrate Halloween with people drinking and in fancy dress.
The fireworks then made a huge noise, according to sources near the team hotel in Marseille ahead of the game in the State Velodrome. Tottenham are already facing a difficult night in Marseille for a game they cannot afford to lose as defeat would mean they are out of the Champions League.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte is serving a one game touchline ban having been sent off in their draw against Sporting Lisbon last week when he was furious after VAR disallowed what Harry Kane thought was a last minute winner. Conte will be allowed in the stadium but not in the dressing room, tunnel area, or technical area and cannot communicate directly with the players.
That would have secured their qualification for the Group stage but now they must play at Marseille and get a draw or a win to progress. Marseille’s notorious fans are facing punishment of their own as the Velodrome’s Visage Nord will be closed after incidents involving the Marseille fans against Eintracht Frankfurt in September.
That will reduce the attendance by 12,000 but Tottenham are still expecting a red hot atmosphere in Marseille - and that was proved by the firework display.
Conte's media duties were fulfilled by Cristian Stellini on Monday and the temporary touchline boss shed a light on how it will work with the Italian at Marseille.
"He will sit next to Gianluca for sure," Stellini said. "I don't know where. He will be here at the stadium. He will work with us until we arrive here and then we have to stop the communication and then he will stay close to Gianluca. We have prepared all the strategies and our strategies are clear. We have to play our match at the best and we all have to do something more to fill the gap."
