Werner gives Leipzig the egde
RB Leipzig marked their first appearance in the Champions League knockout round with a deserved 1-0 victory finally season's runners-up Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday as their impressive campaign continued.
Timo Werner's 58th-minute penalty after a foul by Ben Davies on Konrad Laimer was enough for Julian Nagelsmann's Bundesliga high-flyers to have a narrow lead into the second leg on March 10, although they might rue not putting the last-16 tie to bed.
Tottenham, without injured strikers Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, were largely outplayed and will need the type of heroics they produced at Manchester City and Ajax Amsterdam last season to keep their European quest alive.
But also for inspired keeper Hugo Lloris and wayward finishing from Leipzig, they would be facing a straight tougher task in the return leg.
"Leipzig are a very, very good team with a lot of energy. We'd some situations that we could have managed better," Lloris said. "We're not necessarily happy with the result, but we achieved it last season -- let's hope we make an effort to create another story."
Tottenham did rally late on as Leipzig seemed to accept a narrow win and the hosts came near equalising with the impressive Giovani Lo Celso curling a free of charge kick against the post and Lucas Moura heading over.
But Leipzig were worthy winners and their meteoric rise since being formed a decade ago should see them gatecrash their way into the quarter-finals of Europe's elite tournament.
"The first ten minutes were very noisy, very loud. Ultimately, it was a pleasure to participate this game," Nagelsmann, in his first season in charge, told reporters.
"We proved we're able to win in their stadium and we believe we are able to win in ours."
BAYERN MAULING
The first German club to play at Tottenham's magnificent new stadium were Bayern Munich in October plus they marked their visit with a 7-2 humiliation of their hosts.
Leipzig, one point behind leaders Bayern in the Bundesliga, attacked the Tottenham defence with similar relish and may have scored 3 x in the opening 3 minutes.
Patrik Schick fired wide before Angelino's shot was deflected against the post by Lloris who seconds later blocked Werner's shot from a tight angle.
It was virtually the pattern of an initial half where Tottenham's defence was stretched by the pace and incisive passage of Leipzig. Schick headed another chance wide and Lloris again denied the dangerous Werner.
Steven Bergwijn forced an excellent save by Peter Gulacsi in a rare Tottenham attack while Dele Alli, later substituted, failed to connect with a header however the hosts' attacks were rare.
Leipzig finally got their noses in the front when Davies clumsily took out Laimer, giving Werner the opportunity to net his seventh goal in your competition this season, all abroad.
"We had an excellent game. We had Spurs inside our hands, just the goals were lacking," Werner said.
Lloris was making his first Champions League appearance because the drubbing by Bayern, soon after which he suffered a significant elbow injury.
Thankfully he looks back again to his best as he showed with a exceptional save to deny Schick after Werner's clever dummy.
