Monaco (France), Nov 23 (IANS) French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris denied Radamel Falcao from the penalty spot, but could not rescue Tottenham Hotspur's Champions League campaign as Mauricio Pochettino's men slipped to a 1-2 defeat at the Stade Louis II here.
Tuesday evening's result guaranteed Monaco a berth to the knockout stage as Group E winners alongside Bayer Leverkusen who had earlier drawn 1-1 with CSKA Moscow. But they have sent Spurs packing as the English Premiership side need a point against CSKA at Wembley next month to finish third in the group and qualify for the Europa League, reports Xinhua.
Lloris denied former Manchester United and Chelsea striker Falcao's spot-kick in the first half and made a number of superb saves but second-half goals from Djibril Sidibe and Thomas Lemar gave Monaco a deserved victory.
Harry Kane offered Tottenham temporary hope when he equalized from the penalty spot but the visitors simply never found the spark required to resurrect their faltering fortunes in Europe.
--IANS
ajb/vm
