Tottenham Hotspur guaranteed themselves top spot in their Champions League group as they beat Borussia Dortmund.
Harry Winks
Spurs wrapped up top spot in their group – labelled by many before the campaign as this season’s group of death – as they beat the Bundesliga giants 2-1 in the Westfalenstadion, but it appeared at the break that they may have needed the final group game against APOEL to have another go at securing first place with Dortmund 1-0 up.
However, goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-min turned the game on its head before the full-time whistle and ensures that Tottenham can now not be caught by Real Madrid with one game to go. And after the game, Winks explained that after a disappointing first-half, the message at the break was positive and fairly simple.
“This shows the character of the players. It’s tough when you come away to a place like Borussia Dortmund and if you then concede the first goal, it really puts you to the test. The result shows how good we are and how united we are. At half-time we said ‘we’re still in this, it’s there for us’. We came out, scored an early goal and that put us on the front foot. It was brilliant,” he told the club’s official website.
While the two games against Madrid are arguably the standout performances from Tottenham’s first five games, the result against Dortmund will surely send out just as great a statement to their rivals in the competition.
Regardless of Dortmund’s form in recent times, falling 1-0 behind in their home stadium is not a position that many teams would be able to recover from – but Spurs did that, stepping their game up significantly in the second-half. And that belief surely makes Mauricio Pochettino’s men one of the teams to look out for in the knockout stages.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
