Tottenham Hotspur players 'woken up by fireworks ahead of Marseille clash'

Tottenham Hotspur players were reportedly disturbed in the night by fireworks ahead of their crucial Champions League battle with Marseille at the Orange Velodrome.

The North London club sit top of Group D with eight points to their name and only need to draw against Marseille to seal a place in the knockout rounds of the competition.

In contrast, Igor Tudor's men are bottom of the section with six points, and only a victory will do for them if they are to make a late push for a top-two finish in the group.

In an apparent effort to disrupt Tottenham's preparations for the crunch tie, The Guardian reports that Marseille fans let off fireworks close to the team hotel in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The report adds that players were woken up once at 1.30am and once at 4.30am by the "very prolonged" displays, but Tottenham were expecting disruption tactics of some kind from Marseille fans.

Ahead of the showdown at the Orange Velodrome, a decree has been passed to ban Tottenham fans from entering the Marseille city centre, and part of Les Olympiens' stadium will be closed following incidents with Eintracht Frankfurt supporters earlier in the campaign.

With Antonio Conte serving a touchline ban, Cristian Stellini will take charge for Spurs on Tuesday night as they aim to make the last-16 of the Champions League for the first time since the 2019-20 season.