Today’s back pages: Spurs crash out, Klopp warns of Atletico’s ‘dark arts’ and Wolves must play in Greece

Spurs knocked out in Leipzig

The dominant story on the back pages is Tottenham Hotspur’s dismal defeat against RB Leipzig in the last 16 of the Uefa Champions League last night.

“That was Dier, Jose”, blasts the Daily Mirror, above a photo of a glum Jose Mourinho and Eric Dier, the pair coming to terms with the 3-0 hammering by the German outfit.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Spurs were easily rolled over by Leipzig, for whom Marcel Sabitzer’s double in the first 20 minutes killed the tie as a contest.

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Emil Forsberg scored in the final minutes to give the hosts a 4-0 aggregate win and condemn Spurs to yet another season without a trophy.

The Daily Mail labels the limp performance “Euro trash”, while The Times says that Spurs - who have not won in six games in all competitions - were “brought to their knees” by Leipzig.

The Daily Express singles out Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for blame, saying the Frenchman’s two blunders gifted Leipzig the goals that ended their slim hope of reaching the quarter-finals.

In the evening’s other tie, Atalanta’s Josip Ilicic scored four goals at Valencia in the Champions League’s first match to be played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Atalanta’s 4-3 win in Spain made it 8-4 on aggregate and sealed their place in the last eight.

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Wolves must play

The decision to call off Manchester City’s Premier League match with Arsenal this evening came too late for the papers but there is still plenty of coronavirus coverage with the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror reporting that Wolves’s request to Uefa to postpone their Europa League last-16 tie against Olympiacos has been rejected.

The Greek club’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, has tested positive for coronavirus, which is why the City game has been shelved with Arsenal because he came into contact with some Gunners players and staff in the last round of the competition.

But the Express reports that the Europa League match between Olympiacos and Wolves will go ahead tomorrow, behind closed doors, in line with the Greek government’s enforced temporary suspension of spectators attending sporting events.

Reds on alert

The Daily Mirror and the Daily Star carry the comments from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp ahead of tonight’s Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, the defending champions host the Spaniards at Anfield and Klopp is concerned at what tactics their visitors may adopt.

Under the headline, “Klopp’s dark arts warning”, the Mirror says the Reds boss hasn’t forgotten the first leg when Atletico tried to get Sadio Mane dismissed by play acting.

“You need always a referee who is aware of situations like this, we cannot do it by ourselves,” said the German.

“We expect a really ‘experienced’ performance from Atletico, let me say that. In all different departments [they are] experienced and we have to deal with that.”

In tonight’s other Champions League last-16 second leg Borussia Dortmund take a 2-1 aggregate lead to Paris Saint-Germain.

Both ties kick off at 8pm and are live on BT Sport.

Today’s sport headlines

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