Tottenham Hotspur played visitors to the Signal Iduna Park for tonight’s Champions League clash with Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.
With a clear foot in the next round of the competition owing to a 3-0 aggregate lead following Wembley based goals from Son Heung-Min, Jan Vertonghen and Fernando Llorente, the second leg of the Round of 16 could turn into a dead rubber.
Fans were hoping that wouldn’t be the case and having secured a derby point against Arsenal, everyone wanted to see manager Mauricio Pochettino’s side put in a convincing showing and return to winning ways.
We didn’t quite get that, but we did get a rearguard action with many believing Dortmund would employ ‘kitchen sink’ tactics to save their first leg blushes, and we dealt with everything they threw at us to keep the clean sheet. A bright start to the second half saw Harry Kane make it 1-0 on the night, with our only registered shot on target.
Spurs did it the ugly way again. 4-0 aggregate and on we roll.
Speaking to the BBC following the fulltime whistle, Poch said of the tie.
“We are in the quarter-finals. I’m so happy for the players, and the fans. It’s an important victory. Of course we suffered a bit but it’s ok and we fully deserved to be to be in the quarter-final. Hugo Lloris was great. We conceded more chances than we expected but that’s football. After losing in the first leg they had nothing to lose. It’s tough but overall, the objective was to be in the quarter-final and we are there. In the last 10 minutes of the first half it was difficult for us. They started to play a little but more and then in the first action when we were able to connect we managed to score the goal. Now it’s about enjoying that we are in the quarter-final. We need to feel proud. The experience is so important to improve and get better. There’s a lot of things we can take from this type of game to make us a better team.”