Tottenham Hotspur visited Rome this evening knowing that victory over Lazio would guarantee them qualification for the Europa League knockout stages.
However, the in-form hosts proved stern opposition as the spoils were shared courtesy of a 0-0 draw at the Stadio Olimpico.
Below, Sports Mole analyses whether the result was reflective of the action.
Match statistics:
Lazio:
Shots: 11
On target: 3
Possession: 45%
Corners: 5
Fouls: 5
Spurs:
Shots: 0
On target: 0
Possession: 55%
Corners: 9
Fouls: 10
Was the result fair?
Lazio were much the better side and had it not been for several excellent Hugo Lloris saves, they would have won by a goal or two. In fact, regardless of the Frenchman, Libor Kozak should have won this game for the Serie A outfit. Gareth Bale did have a perfectly good effort ruled out early on, but apart from that the goal threat came almost exclusively from Lazio and the Italians deserved maximum points from this one.
Lazio's performance
Going forward, they were tidy but lacked the end product. For all of his hard work, Kozak was guilty of missing several excellent chances. It is hard to say anything about them defensively, as they were never really tested. Substitutes Ederson and Antonio Candreva injected some pace and intent into a second half that was lacking urgency. Lazio are no great shakes but Spurs made them look good this evening.
Tottenham's performance
The stats will tell you everything you need to know about Spurs' attacking display. Plenty of the ball, but no creativity or penetration going forward. After the first 15 minutes, Bale was unusually quiet and neither Aaron Lennon or Jermain Defoe had an impact off the bench. Emmanuel Adebayor spent far too much time pulling off to the flanks, rather than linking up with Clint Dempsey or Gylfi Sigurdsson in more dangerous positions. Lloris's heroics were the only plus point from a disappointing Spurs performance.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Hugo Lloris enjoyed his finest night in a Tottenham shirt - producing numerous saves to retain his side parity, the pick of which was a superb stop to keep out Michael Ciani's 84th-minute header. The Frenchman was also very quick off his line on several occasions to foil potential attacks.
Biggest gaffe
Libor Kozak could point to Lloris as the reason he left goalless, but the Spurs stopper was not responsible for his most glaring miss. Just past the hour mark, he was through one-on-one and with Lloris anticipating a square pass to Senad Lulic, Kozak somehow scuffed his finish wide from eight yards with the near-post virtually gaping.
Referee's performance
Fernando Teixeira had little to do, but his assistant did wrongly flag Gareth Bale offside just before the Tottenham captain rounded Federico Marchetti and found the net.
What next?
Lazio: Home Serie A matches against Udinese and Parma before returning to Europe for a now-redundant game against Maribor.
Spurs: Three Premier League games in six days - starting with West Ham United at home on Saturday.
Joe Fish
