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RasenBallsport Leipzig completed a two-legged victory over Tottenham in the Champions League, with a 4-0 aggregate scoreline recorded to progress to the quarterfinals of the competition.
In light of the devastating spread of the coronavirus, most matches have been played behind closed doors but Leipzig were allowed to have fans in the game and the Germans gave them a real treat, with a first-half brace by Marcel Sabitzer and an injury-time goal by Emile Forsberg condemning the Lilywhites to a devastating defeat.
The visitors came into the fixture on a deficit, having lost in front of their fans three weeks ago and despite being without their best players, there was still the belief that Tottenham could turn the tie around.
They, however, started the game in a disastrous fashion when they went behind just 10 minutes in, with Sabitzer shooting from 20 yards but his strike should easily have been gathered by Hugo Lloris who could only palm the ball into the bottom corner.
Eleven minutes later, the same man was at fault once more, failing to deal with Sabitzer's near-post header, although the defending was awful and with just 20 minutes gone, the game was already running away from Tottenham.
Fans would have been forgiven for thinking back to their famous comeback against Ajax in almost similar circumstances but unlike that night in Amsterdam, Spurs rarely threatened and did not at any point look like they were capable of getting anything here.
The hosts were dominant from start to finish and put the final nail in the coffin when Emile Forsberg came off the bench to score with his first touch of the game after a lightning break on the counter.
For Leipzig, the dream continues, while Spurs would have to show some marked improvements if they are to make it into this competition next season and here, we shall be highlighting five talking points from the highly entertaining fixture.
#5 Defensive frailties remain an issue for Tottenham
Since his appointment in November 2019, Jose Mourinho has overseen 26 matches as Tottenham manager and rather surprisingly, the North Londoners have kept just three clean sheets, conceding 36 goals in the process.
Given his prior reputation as a defensive specialist, it would perhaps come as a surprise to see one of his sides so defensively unorganized and their struggles at the back were laid bare in the clash with Leipzig.
They were totally at sixes-and-sevens for the entirety of the match, with Serge Aurier most culpable and the hosts sliced their defence open with relative ease time and again and could have been winners by a much larger scoreline had they pressed home their superiority.
Much has been made about the absence of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min but the bottomline is that Tottenham are not pulling their weight at the other end and the earlier they resolve their defensive susceptibility, the better for them.
#4 Fairytale run continues in this season's Champions League
With an ever-increasing financial market for football clubs to tap into, the disparity between the rich and poor has never been more pronounced and the bigger sides are getting richer while the smaller teams struggle to remain competitive.
Access to more money generally means getting buying better players and this limits the chances of smaller sides competing for major titles and they are just content to complete the numbers and retain their status in the top-flight.
Most of the major tournaments are always won by a handful of clubs but the fairytale nature of the game means that there is always one side that defies the odds to go the distance at the expense of more established sides every other season.
Leicester City did it with their title-winning campaign in 2016, while Ajax were a few seconds away from a first Champions League final in 24 years after dispatching heavyweights like Juventus and Real Madrid on the way.
Atalanta have been one of the biggest underdog stories of the last two years and despite having the 13th biggest budget in Serie A, the Bergamo side have been punching above their weight in Italy and led by four-goal hero Josip Ilicic, Gian Piero Gasperini's men dispatched Valencia 4-3 on their own turf to make it to the last eight in their first season of Champions League football.
Ahead of the round-of-16, Leipzig and Atalanta were the only two sides that had never appeared in the Champions League knockout rounds but their convincing victories have guaranteed that there would be two unfancied sides in the last eight and if they can keep up their impressive performances, there just might be no stopping them.
#3 Tottenham's failure to trouble Leipzig over two legs should be a cause for concern
As recently as June last year, Tottenham sent shockwaves by competing in the final of the Champions League and even though they were defeated by Liverpool, it was expected that they would build on from that.
The club have made giant strides despite not spending much in the market but their decision to sack Mauricio Pochettino mid-season was seen in many quarters as a wrong one, while the appointment of Jose Mourinho was even more baffling given his recent antecedents.
Despite the absence of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min as well as their recent poor form, Tottenham would have fancied their chances against a Leipzig side who were arguably the weakest seeded side that they could have faced in the round-of-16.
For all of their impressiveness in the Bundesliga, the Germans are painfully short of star names and fans were expecting a close game between two sides of almost equal strength.
However, rather disappointingly, Tottenham failed to play their part and were nothing more than spectators as Leipzig ran roughshod over them across both legs and for a side that expects to compete in the upper echelons of continental and domestic football, this is simply not good enough and Daniel Levy would have to go back to the drawing board.
#2 Julian Nagelsmann signals arrival on the big stage
Julian Nagelsamnn made history in the summer of 2016 when he was appointed as manager of Hoffenheim aged 28, making him the youngest first-team coach in Bundesliga history.
He ended his first full season in charge by finishing in 4th place in the Bundesliga, securing a maiden playoff spot for the Champions League and even though they were eliminated by Liverpool, Nagelsman had made his mark, qualifying for the tournament proper the next season by virtue of a third-place finish in the league.
His work with the unfancied Hoffenheim did not go unnoticed and there much speculation linking him to the Bayern Munich job although he eventually settled for Leipzig where he has continued with his revolutionary coaching methods.
Under his guidance, Leipzig are mounting a title challenge domestically and have made it to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, with Nagelsmann knocking out of the greatest managers in history to achieve this.
In many ways, parallels can be drawn with Mourinho's feat in eliminating Sir Alex Ferguson with Porto at this same stage in 2004; at that time Nagelsmann was just 16 years old and even if Leipzig do not go as far as winning the tournament, it does not detract from what has been a special display.
Julian Nagelsmann is widely regarded as the brightest light from the next generation of managers and he is undoubtedly destined for a coaching role at one of the biggest sides and he did his reputation a world of good by the tactical masterclass produced against a managerial great.
#1 Jose Mourinho might not be so special anymore
Jose Mourinho sent printing machines into overdrive when he declared that he was the special one during his first interview as Chelsea manager in 2004 and this was the start of a complex relationship with a media that loved to hate him.
However, his character was fuelled by his many detractors and Mourinho took great joy in letting his work do the talking for him, winning several major trophies in different top leagues of the world.
However, as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever and even the great Mourinho is not immune from the law of diminishing returns and the Portuguese started showing signs of his decline in his second coming to Chelsea with ended with an unceremonious sack.
Another disastrous spell was followed at Manchester United before his rather shocking appointment in Pochettino's stead.
After an initial 'new manager's bounce' that saw Tottenham win four of their first five matches in all competitions, things have regressed in recent weeks and they are currently on a run of six matches without a win in all competitions (the longest of Mourinho's career) that has seen them knocked out of the FA Cup, Champions League and lose touch of the top four in the Premier League.
The two-legged loss against RB Leipzig means that the great Jose Mourinho has not won a Champions League knockout fixture since defeating PSG 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the quarterfinals of the Champions League in April 2014.
Since then, he has gone eight matches without winning a match in the knockout stage and just for context, the last time Jose Mourinho won a Champions League knockout tie, Sheffield United and Wolves were still League One teams while David Moyes was just some few days away from being sacked as Manchester United manager.
Great managers generally spend about 10-15 years at the top of the food chain before being usurped by younger and suaver tacticians and while Jose Mourinho might not want to admit it, the signs are there that his time at the top might be over.
