Tottenham churned out arguably their best performance of the season as a Dele Alli brace and a second half Christian Eriksen goal secured a 3-1 win over Real Madrid. Borussia Dortmund's 1-1 draw with APOEL also meant Spurs have progressed to the next round of the Champions League, an incredible feat given the quality of their group.
Tottenham were far and away the better team from the get go and were rewarded for their efforts midway through the first half as Dele Alli turned a low Kieran Trippier cross past Kiko Casilla after the Spurs right-back was picked out perfectly by Harry Winks. Trippier was offside, but the home side wouldn’t have minded as Alli marked his first Champions League start following suspension with a goal.
He seemed to be making up for lost time too as he doubled Spurs’ advantage 10 minutes after the interval, albeit via a lucky deflection off Sergio Ramos to take the ball past Casilla. The hosts rode their luck on occasion, with Cristiano Ronaldo inadvertently blocking a Ramos shot from six yards a stand out moment, but Spurs made Real Madrid pay for their profligacy with a third midway through the second half. Christian Eriksen capped a stunning counter attack as he tucked past Casilla having been picked out by Harry Kane.
The European and La Liga champions pulled one back through Ronaldo with 10 minutes to play, but by then it was too little, too late. Real Madrid looked devoid of confidence and composure in front of goal from the off, even with a lion share of possession. As Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino did so against Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, he deployed a setup that meant his side saw little of the ball, but broke with pace to punish Real Madrid.
Such a system is dependent on the full-backs, with Pochettino opting for Ben Davies and Kieran Trippier to provide the width and the defensive discipline to both hurt Real Madrid, yet return to their positions to deny Los Blancos and both did so to great effect. Only Alli (9.33) and Hugo Lloris (8.62) earned a better WhoScored rating than Trippier (8.46) at Wembley on Wednesday night, with the England international providing the crucial assist for Alli’s opener. Davies, too, was effective on the left as his WhoScored rating (7.16) suggests.
The two worked perfectly to provide balance to this Spurs side. Trippier pressed forward when required as he made more key passes (3) than any other Tottenham player. Marcelo’s willingness to push upfield left space for the Spurs man to exploit and he did so with ruthless efficiency in what was arguably his best performance under Pochettino. The more conservative Davies was on hand to keep the Real Madrid offensive at bay making three tackles on the evening, a return bettered only by Alli (4) of all players for the hosts.
With the duo, in particular Trippier, breaking forward with speed, it allowed Spurs to stretch Real Madrid and they duly punished the Spanish giants, who have lost back-to-back games for the first time since January. Spurs have become more pragmatic under Pochettino in recent months and the win over Real Madrid was the prime example of his improving managerial pedigree. Impressively still was that Davies and Trippier weren't considered first team regular under Pochettino last season when he had everyone fully fit, yet the pair have come on leaps on bounds to consolidate starting spots. Their respective performances on Wednesday was the pinnacle of their development under the Argentine boss as Spurs made full use of the wide Wembley pitch to secure the win.
