Tottenham Hotspur handed Real Madrid their first loss in a UEFA Champions League group stage match since October 2012; ending a 30 game unbeaten streak. They did it with style too, beating Los Blancos 3-1, and that scoreline doesn’t quite do justice to how one-sided this match was.
It will go down as the third most lopsided loss to an English side by Real in their club history, and it vaulted Spurs forward to the knockout round of Champions League.
“Obviously a win brings with it certain consequences in terms of making us more visible and it’s something everyone around Europe would have seen,” Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino said after the match.
The Argentine pointed out how this win, as well as his side’s recent record, vaults them up to big club status.
“You’ve all seen today that Tottenham is a big team. We’re playing at Wembley in front of 80,000 people. These are really historic occasions. Now we belong not only among the best in England, but in Europe. Results like this help people see where we’re going.”
“These have been two games against Real Madrid where we’ve been very competitive. Now the most important thing for us is that we’re through to the next round, we’re where we want to be. So we’ll look forward now hopefully to be well-placed in the group and get a good draw for the second round.”
It certainly was an electric atmosphere at the national stadium tonight, as Pochettino pointed out. Spurs really established Wembley as a home away from home tonight while White Hart Lane is being renovated.
“We’re able to compete now with the biggest teams on a physical and a mental level and this is preparing us very well for what’s coming in the future and in particular in order for us to achieve the goals we have,” he continued.
“Those goals are always of course to win to win big competitions, this is what we dream of.”
Dele Alli, who bagged a brace in this big victory, added the following:
“It was a fantastic display by us. We knew if we stuck to our game plan and were solid at back then we’d get chances. We’re very happy with the result. I wasn’t surprised [we were dominant]. We couldn’t believe how much space we had at the Bernabeu.”
“We don’t want to just compete with these teams we want to beat them. I’m happy to get two goals but more importantly it was a win.”
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