Sleepless night for Spurs thanks to all-night fireworks before Marseille crunch match
Amid rumours of an attempt by Juventus to bring manager Antonio Conte (53) back to Turin and their up-and-down performance in the league, Tottenham arrive in Marseille to play for progression to the Champions League round of 16.
It's a challenge that the London club will have to face without the former Inter coach Conte sitting on the bench, given the red card he received in the match against Sporting Lisbon which ended 1-1.
In the match against the Portuguese club last week, Harry Kane (29) had scored what would have been the winning goal, seemingly guaranteeing Spurs' qualification, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside as well as costing their coach a suspension for his ensuing protests.
The resulting draw means that the English side now needs to get a result against Marseille to secure a spot in the next round.
Group D is delicately poised with Tottenham in first position on eight points, Sporting and Eintracht Frankfurt on seven, with Marseille last on six. All four teams can thus mathematically progress going into the last round.
It is difficult to predict how it will all unfold but a victory or a draw for Spurs will send them through to the last 16 without having to rely on a result in the group's other match.
Marseille, meanwhile, must win the game to progress.
Igor Tudor's men are therefore on a mission and will have no intention of making life easy for their opponents, especially with the Velodrome expected to be sold out and rocking as ever.
As seen in several videos posted on social media, the fans of the French club have decided to make their own contribution to the team's effort by setting off fireworks outside their opponents' hotel to disturb their sleep overnight. The fireworks display allegedly lasted for most of the night.
It's a time-honoured tactic and a restless night's sleep will not have helped Tottenham's preparations for the match at all.
What's more, Conte's absence will undoubtedly be an important factor as his deputy Cristian Stellini confirmed in a press conference, speaking about the situation.
"It's a difficult change, but we all have to prepare together before the game. It's a completely different world, because normally the days before the match Antonio does all the preparation alone. Now we have to do everything together."
Follow all the action from what promises to be a pulsating affair on Flashscore.