Brahim Diaz’s early aim condemned Tottenham to a 1-0 loss towards AC Milan within the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at San Siro.

Former Manchester Metropolis winger Diaz bundled residence from shut vary after seven minutes and Spurs had been lucky to not fall additional behind within the closing phases when Milan spurned two superb headed possibilities by way of Charles De Ketelaere and Malick Thiaw.

As an alternative, Antonio Conte will probably be relieved to return to north London with a deficit of just one aim having been pressured to subject a central midfield pairing of Oliver Skipp and Pape Sarr on account of Rodrigo Bentancur’s harm and the suspension of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Skipp and Sarr carried out effectively in troublesome circumstances on their full Champions League debuts however, in a largely cagey encounter, Spurs, overwhelmed 4-1 by Leicester within the Premier League on Saturday, had been unable to create any clear scoring possibilities.

Their personnel points will proceed within the second leg on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with a yellow card to Eric Dier which means he’ll miss out by way of suspension, however the one-goal margin of defeat means the tie remains to be open for Conte and his gamers.

How Milan claimed their win

Conte claimed a few of his gamers battle to deal with strain after the 4-1 loss to Leicester and, at a hostile San Siro, Milan’s early opener appeared to offer additional proof.

The aim got here after Theo Hernandez beat Cristian Romero to a protracted move on the left and compelled a parry from Forster, who then acrobatically saved Diaz’s follow-up, just for the winger to power the unfastened ball into the online with a diving header.

Spurs had been having to work laborious to include the damaging Rafael Leao however they slowly settled into the sport after the early aim, inflicting issues for the hosts with a collection of set-piece deliveries, albeit with out creating any clear possibilities within the first half.

The second interval started with a let-off for the reckless Romero, who was solely booked, with VAR upholding the choice to not ship him off, after he went flying into Sandro Tonali as Milan sprang ahead on the counter-attack.

The sport continued to comply with the same sample after that, with Leao the one participant offering a spark and Spurs struggling to show their possession into scoring alternatives.

Conte threw on Richarlison for Dejan Kulusevski in an try to extend his aspect’s attacking risk however all they may muster had been occasional half-chances, with Sarr sending a long-range effort straight at Milan goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu.

The hosts then had two golden alternatives to ram residence their benefit, with De Ketekaerem, on in its place solely moments earlier, heading tamely vast after Oliver Giroud had nodded a cross again into the hazard space, and defender Thiaw then doing the identical when picked out by Leao in a fair higher place.

Dier failed to attach correctly with a header of his personal, from a nook, as Spurs tried to punish these Milan misses on the different finish of the pitch, however they by no means actually seemed like scoring.

Conte: Our followers will help us undergo

Spurs head coach Antonio Conte informed BT Sport: “I feel it was higher right now and excessive depth and I feel we performed towards a very good group. Remember Milan final season received the league in Italy.

“I feel that to concede the primary aim, we are able to do a lot better. As an alternative we concede a aim after perhaps solely 5 minutes. Then we attempt to lead the sport and create a state of affairs to attain however I feel Milan defend very effectively.

“We created the possibilities to attain however ultimately we’re speaking a few defeat, a loss.

“For qualification it’s important to play two video games. It’s the first sport away and the ambiance was improbable. I do know the San Siro and I do know the problem to play with this ambiance.

“Within the second sport we’ve to play at our stadium and our followers will create the ambiance to assist us overcome the Milan impediment.”

Evaluation: Sarr, Skipp positives for Spurs

Antonio Conte will rue the defensive sloppiness that allowed Brahim Diaz to attain AC Milan’s winner however there have been positives for him to take too. First, that the tie remains to be open forward of the second leg. And second, the performances of Pape Sarr and Oliver Skipp.

Sarr had by no means beforehand featured within the competitors. In actual fact, this was solely the 20-year-old’s sixth look for Spurs in any competitors. However along with Skipp, a full Champions League debutant himself at 22, he didn’t look misplaced.

The pair had been thrust into motion on account of circumstance, after all, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg suspended and Rodrigo Bentancur becoming a member of the injured Yves Bissouma on the sidelines when he ruptured his ACL in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Leicester within the Premier League.

However up towards a vastly extra skilled midfield duo of Sandro Tonali and Rade Krunic, they competed effectively, utilizing the ball tidily and, in Sarr’s case specifically, defending tigerishly. The Senegal worldwide made 5 tackles and regained possession 12 instances – 4 greater than anybody else on the pitch.

“It is good to have the supervisor’s belief,” Skipp informed BT Sport afterwards, earlier than Conte added, in his personal interview, the academy product and his youthful team-mate had “repaid” that belief. “I am actually glad for each gamers,” added the Spurs boss.

In Hojbjerg, Conte ought to have a minimum of considered one of his lacking midfielders again for subsequent month’s second leg, however Sarr and Skipp have proven they will ship when referred to as upon. “To have this sort of performances from Skippy and Sarr makes me extra relaxed as a result of I do know I can belief them 100 per cent,” added Conte.

Leao’s dazzling dribbles – Opta stats

• Rafael Leao accomplished 9 dribbles on this sport, probably the most by a participant in a single match within the Champions League this season and probably the most by a Milan participant since Opta began accumulating this knowledge (2003/04).
• Milan have overwhelmed Tottenham in European competitors for the primary time on the fifth try (D2 L2), and it is their first victory of their final 10 towards English opposition (D1 L8), since a 4-0 win over Arsenal in 2012 within the Champions League.
• Tottenham are the primary English aspect to lose 4 Champions League knockout stage video games in a row since Arsenal between 2016 and 2017, with Antonio Conte’s aspect failing to attain in every of these fixtures.
• Milan loved their first Champions League knockout victory since beating Barcelona 2-0 in February 2013 within the final 16, shedding every of the three since then.
• Harry Kane made is 66th look for Tottenham in main European competitions, the joint-most of any Spurs participant, stage with Hugo Lloris.

What’s subsequent for Spurs?

Sunday nineteenth February 4:00pm


Kick off 4:30pm

Tottenham return to Premier League motion with a house sport towards West Ham, stay on Sky Sports activities Premier League on Sunday from 3.30pm; kick-off 4.30pm.

Spurs will play the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with AC Milan on Wednesday March 8 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; kick-off 8pm.