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Tottenham Hotspur have had a fair few ‘coming-of-age’ performances under Mauricio Pochettino.
The first major Champions League scalp came from Real Madrid, a scintillating 3-1 win at Wembley, while the away comeback against Juventus, a 2-2 draw, was heralded in many quarters as proof of their growth.
This season, a 1-1 draw in the Camp Nou, against Barcelona, sealed their progress to the Round of 16.
Subsequently matched up against Borussia Dortmund, the best team in Germany, many expected a feast for the neutrals but perhaps a valiant defeat for Pochettino’s men. In fact, they have cruised into the last eight.
A 3-0 win at Wembley was, quite obviously, superb, Spurs flaying Dortmund at will in the second half, inspired by a rampant Jan Vertonghen and deadly Son Heung-min.
But Tuesday’s performance in Germany within a cauldron of yellow noise was perhaps even more impressive. Spurs knew what to expect: Lucien Favre’s men were going to attack from the off as they chased a miracle. Boosted by the return of Marco Reus, Dortmund set up to blitz Spurs from the off.
In the first half, as the scoreboard flashed in the corner of the ground, it showed that Dortmund had attempted nine shots on goal. Spurs had tried one.
Pochettino leaned heavily on the brilliance of his goalkeeper. Hugo Lloris has endured an up-and-down season but in the past week he has appeared a man transformed, finally showing the form that saw him lift the World Cup trophy with France in the summer.
Fresh from saving Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s injury-time penalty against Arsenal at Wembley, Lloris made a total of seven saves in Germany, per WhoScored. They included superb stops from both Julian Weigl and Mario Gotze and it was apparent from the off that Spurs needed their stopper at his best. He delivered.
So too did the manager. Pochettino recognised early that Reus was giving Toby Alderweireld the slip when Dortmund were in possession. Dropping into pockets of space, he had time to attempt to dictate the tempo. He wriggled free early on and, after a Davinson Sanchez error, appeared set to open the scoring, only for a miraculous Vertonghen challenge to deny him.
The Spurs boss counteracted his influence by shifting systems and dropping Moussa Sissoko into a deeper role, a tweak from the free-roaming role he was tasked with playing at the start of the game. Thereafter, Reus drifted out of the game and with it the siege on Lloris’ goal. Pochettino’s excellent tactical decision was a major factor behind the Frenchman’s clean-sheet.
As Spurs grew in confidence and Reus was nullified, they began to stroke the ball around at the end of the first-half and scored minutes into the second, Sissoko rampaging forward to play a through ball into Harry Kane, who, as he does, curled the ball past Roman Burki.
Spurs then challenged Dortmund to break them down and it was a challenge that Favre’s men roundly failed.
They are a team that regularly rely on the lightning speed of their counter-attacks, led by the superstar-in-waiting Sancho. But, when given possession, they had no answer and Spurs, amazingly, did not appear to be in any danger.
For many Tottenham fans that may be a hard sentence to comprehend but this was almost the perfect Champions League away performance.
Previously, Spurs have just been happy to be at the party, gleefully accepting the invite and hoping some surprises come their way throughout the night. All too often there have been some nasty shocks. This time around, it appears as though they have grown; they are finally sat at the top table, and it may last a little while longer yet.