LONDON – Tottenham Hotspur stumbled at their adopted Wembley home again as Kevin Kampl’s second-half goal gave Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 victory that put the Bundesliga side on course for the last 16 of the Champions League yesterday.
Slovenian international Kampl’s close-range effort after 65 minutes gave Leverkusen a deserved victory — their first on English soil in 10 attempts — to move them above Tottenham into second place in Group E.
Tottenham, now without a win in six matches in all competitions, never settled and there was precious little for the majority of the record 85,512 crowd to get excited about.
Eric Dier came close to an equaliser when his free kick thumped against the crossbar with eight minutes left but Tottenham left the field to boos after a repeat of their opening 2-1 defeat by Monaco.
With two matches left, Monaco lead the group on eight points after beating CSKA Moscow 3-0. Leverkusen have six and Tottenham have it all to do with four.
“If we don’t win in Monaco and then against CSKA it’s goodbye to the Champions League,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, whose side face north London rivals Arsenal in the Premier League on Monday, told reporters.