LONDON: Tottenham slumped gloomily and unadventurously out of the Champions League, held 0-0 at home in their second round return by Milan and eliminated 1-0 on aggregate.

Ironically Spurs’ two controlling Italians – sporting director Fabio Paratici and manager Antonio Conte – may be the ones to pay the price, certainly at the end of a season if not before. They can still finish in the Premier League top four but there are better teams all around them.

Conte was back in the technical area following convalescence after stomach surgery with an immediate task of rebuilding morale defeats to Sheffield United in the FA Cup and then Wolves in the Premier League.

Tottenham made one change from the team beaten by Wolves with Emerson Royal replacing Pedro Porro. In defence Eric Dier was suspended but Pierre-Emerick Hojbjerg was back in midfield after a European ban of his own.

Milan made three changes from the first leg with Mike Maignon back in goal, ex-Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori in the centre of defence with Junior Messias at rightback.

The kick-off was delayed for 10 minutes because of heavy traffic around the ground. This was the second London delay for a Champions League fixture after Chelsea making the same decision before beating Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

Tottenham were then equally slow in starting the game. They were disjointed in midfield and attack in the first half. Harry Kane was forced to drop deeper and deeper to try to create any sort of danger but in vain. Milan were able to hold out comfortably and confidently to halftime when Spurs were booed off by their own disappointed fans.

Goalkeeper Fraser Forster, deputising for injured Hugo Lloris, kept Spurs in the tie with a sharp close-range save from Brahim Diaz after the restart.

Finally Tottenham began to raise the tempo but without causing problems for Maignon until he was forced to palm a drive from Hojbjerg over the bar for a corner.

As the game opened up so Conte sought to strengthen attack by sending on Brazil World Cup striker Richarlison in place of wingback Royal. But Spurs, in pushing forward, left themselves vulnerable on the break. Thus Cristian Romero was shown a second yellow card and red after taking out the fast-raiding Theo Hernandez. It was the second red of Romero’s Tottenham season.

Maignon made a fine save from Kane in stoppage time before Milan raced away and Forster tipped an Origi effort against a post.

Conte is almost certainly now into the closing stages of his Tottenham career. Only once in six attempts has he ever progressed beyond the last 16 of the Champions League.

Bayern through

German champions Bayern Munich progressed by defeating Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 in Germany and 3-0 on aggregate.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting swept home just after the hour mark for the hosts against his former club, with Serge Gnabry adding the gloss to a professional display late on.

The six-time European champions had begun the evening nervously defending a one-goal first-leg lead and guarding against the dual threat posed by Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.

However, while PSG’s star forward line sporadically threatened early on neither was given the time or space to inflict any damage on a disciplined and efficient Bayern side, who ran out 3-0 aggregate winners.

The draw for the last eight of the competition takes place on 17 March in Nyon, Switzerland.

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