Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League campaign came to an end as they were well beaten by RB Leipzig in the last 16.
The German club – who were only formed 10 years ago – led 1-0 from the first leg in London and Marcel Sabitzer’s double at the Red Bull Arena put Leipzig in control.
Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris should have done better for both goals – getting a hand to both the Leipzig captain’s 20-yard shot and near-post header.
Emil Forsberg scored with his first touch after coming off the bench to give Leipzig a 4-0 aggregate win.
Injury-hit Spurs never looked capable of mounting a comeback like the one against Ajax last season which took them to the final and will now finish the season without a trophy again.
Jose Mourinho’s side – who have not won in six games in all competitions – will need to find some form if they are to be back in this tournament at all next season. They are seven points behind the top four in the Premier League.
Spurs manager Mourinho was once considered one of the Champions League’s top managers – winning in 2004 with Porto and 2010 with Inter Milan.
But the Portuguese has now failed to win any of his eight Champions League knockout games since 2014.
The stats do not make good reading. This was his heaviest ever Champions League aggregate defeat and it is the first six-game winless run of his 935-game managerial career.
He rightly bemoans their injury list, with Steven Bergwijn joining Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Moussa Sissoko out of action – but they should still be doing better.
Leipzig appeared hungrier, first to every ball, especially in the first half when the damage was done. Their two wing-backs had the beating of their opposite numbers, with Angelino, who looked ordinary in the first half of this season for Manchester City, causing Serge Aurier so many problems.
In the centre Timo Werner – who scored the only goal of the first leg three weeks ago – was having the time of his life up against Eric Dier.
Spurs did start well and Sabitzer’s opener was against the run of play. Werner’s shot was blocked and then he squared the ball to the midfielder to blast home from outside the box. Lloris could not keep the ball out despite getting a touch.
