Leipzig has the edge against Tottenham

After a foul by Ben Davies on Konrad Laimer, Timo Werner converted a penalty in the 58th minute and gave Julian Nagelsmann’s Bundesliga high-flyer a narrow lead ahead of the second leg on March 10. Tottenham, without injured strikers Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, was largely outplayed and will need the sort of heroics it produced at Manchester City (2019-20) and Ajax Amsterdam (2018-19) to keep its European quest alive.

But for inspired keeper Hugo Lloris and wayward finishing from Leipzig, Spurs would be facing an even tougher task in the return leg.

“Leipzig is a very good team with a lot of energy. We had some situations which we could have managed better,” said Lloris. “We’re not really happy with the result, but we had some good comebacks last season. Let’s hope we try to create another story.”

Tottenham did rally late on as Leipzig appeared to settle for a narrow win.

The host came close to equalising with the impressive Giovani Lo Celso curling a free-kick against the post and Lucas Moura heading over. But Leipzig was worthy winner and its meteoric rise since being formed 10 years ago should see it gatecrash its way into the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite tournament.

“The first 10 minutes were very noisy. In the end, it was a pleasure to be part of this game,” Nagelsmann, in his first season in charge, told reporters. “We proved we could win in its stadium and we believe we can win in ours.”

Atalanta tears up Valencia

Atalanta continued its dream debut Champions League campaign on Wednesday with a 4-1 win over Valencia in an entertaining last-16 first leg meeting at San Siro in Milan.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s Serie A side raced into a two-goal lead by half-time with goals from Hans Hateboer and Josip Ilicic.

Remo Freuler’s curling strike and a second goal for Hateboer looked to have ended the tie as a contest, but substitute Denis Cheryshev gave the Spanish visitor a glimmer of hope with an away goal.

Two-time runner-up Valencia will host the Italian team at the Mestalla Stadium in the return leg on March 10.

Atalanta had qualified for Europe’s top club competition for the first time with a surprise third-place finish in Serie A last season, which was achieved despite having the 14th-highest wage budget in the division.