Tottenham Finish off Dortmund in Germany to Advance to UCL Quarters
By Aaron Coe
Game of Two Halves?
This was kind of a game of two halves, but the last five minutes of the first-half really started the change in the tempo of the match. For the first 40 minutes Dortmund were clearly dominating the ball and working to create chances, a couple nice ones, against Tottenham’s defensive set up. However, Spurs held the ball for more than three-and-a-half of the last five minutes of the first half and the whistles were growing louder as the mood was clearly changing on and off the pitch for the German team.
The first 10 minutes of the game was kind of back and forth with both teams struggling to really get into any possession pattern. However, things began to change in the 11th minute as Jan Vertonghen had a really important 30 seconds. First at approximately 10:15 Vertonghen as a bit late on Mario Goetze who went down like he was shot, with a woman’s tennis grunt added to boot. As was the case for most of the evening, the referee correctly played on much to the dismay of the crowd and bench near which the foul occurred.
15 seconds later Goetze – now occupying the left wing, the Vertonghen incident being on the Tottenham attacking right – floats the ball into Marco Reus who turns with the perfect dummy letting the ball roll. This move caught Davison Sanchez by surprise, as he swung and missed with the ball bouncing through to the now in on goal Reus.
Vertonghen left Alcacer came back and saved the day, the first of many big plays for Superjan, as he slid it with his left boot at the perfect time. Jan wasn’t done, though, as he spun – yes while on the ground – in a circle and cleared a worm burning ground pass to Moussa Sissoko’s feet some 20 yards up the pitch.
Those 30 seconds defined the half. Solid refereeing both ways, good defending from Tottenham and almost chances from Dortmund. And as good as Spurs were like at the 12-minute mark when all five defenders were in a perfect row to catch Reus offside, there were some big chances and Hugo Lloris came up big, time and again.
About 20 minutes after Winks lost the ball on what looked like a potential counter. BVB pushed up the left only to pull back to the top of the 18 from the corner, a move I saw often today, Reus got a nice shot off which deflected off Davison Sanchez. Lloris, as he did all night, stood strong, blocked the ball into the air and calmly pulled the ball in.
The attacks continued for much of the next 20-minutes, as Dortmund looked to push numbers forward and pull one back. Time after time, whether it was a Vertonghen boot, a Sanchez clearance, or a Hugo Lloris punch Spurs were taking Dortmund’s best and repelling the attacks.
After Harry Kane scored less than five minutes into the second half, the match opened up and play became more even, although Dortmund dominated possession with nearly 63 percent on the evening. It did not matter as Tottenham were able to push after that first goal and easily see the match out.
Kane’s Goal
At about 47 minutes Sanchez won possession on a header and Spurs began to move the ball, from right-to-left, across the back, as we have seen hundreds of times this season and it moved up to Son, who played wide to Davies. Finally some possession going! Davies played in to Winks, who pushed up to Eriksen. Christian turned and saw Harry Kane breaking in and toe-poked the ball forward.
Unfortunately for Eriksen, a defender was stepping up to cut that pass off for BVB. Unfortunately for Dortmund the ball bounced off the defender right to Moussa Sissoko. Kane had seen what happened and re-started the run he tried moments before with Eriksen. Sissoko hit a first time through-ball.
Kane took one touch, looked-up and blasted into the net. 0-1 Spurs! 0-4 on aggregate, start the plane we are coming home winners! While the game already felt out of reach for Dortmund, this goal sealed it for Spurs and made for a better last 30 minutes, especially for a neutral as the game just opened up.
4 Corners and a Goal Kick
The real back-breaker in this game came before the Tottenham goal starting around 32 minutes into the game. Even with Son coming back to have a four man midfield, BVB attacked so much on the left that the space on the right was ridiculous and it led to some real half-chances for Dortmund. None of those opportunities were better than the 4 straight corners a single play with space led to at 32:30.
First the space allowed an easy cross to Alcacer for a shot that deflects for a corner. Corner #1. This one is flicked on at the front post but bounces past the back post where it is pushed out to Reus at the corner of the 18. Reus whips in a cross which is flicked on goal, where Lloris saves the effort and he with help from Ben Davies save the rebound leading to corner #2.
This second corner was a thing of beauty. From the left side a ball is floated to Reus who is coming in near the top of the box. He hits a wonderful instep volley; which Sanchez just deflects enough to go over the bar. Leading to corner #3.
Corner #3 was a short corner that somehow led to Goetze having a clean look at goal near the corner of the penalty area. He tried to bend a shot to the far post past an unsighted Hugo Lloris. With a great jump and a strong hand Lloris pushed the ball wide of the post, leading to corner 4.
Lloris had clearly had enough and came out and punched away the 4th corner which rebounded to a boot well over the bar. Finally, after nearly 3 minutes and 4 corners Spurs had a goal-kick. There were still other chances and Lloris made a couple more good saves, but this series really demonstrated Spurs resolve and sort of was the straw pushing hard on Dortmund’s back.
Refereeing and VAR
Although, on the whole the referee was essentially non-existent – which is awesome let them play – there were two huge no calls in the first half. The first was at nearly 16 minutes when Alcacer was a foot or so offside but the flag never went up and it looked like he was in on Lloris. Sanchez, as he did for most of the night, got back into position and defended strongly earning a goal kick.
I think VAR may have taken that one off the board, although I didn’t watch too many replays and I was watching in Spanish, which I don’t speak. Hey we do what we have to in order to watch!
If VAR may have given us one there if Sanchez had not done his job, VAR was a no-show Heung-Min Son and Spurs at about 27 minutes. I’ve never seen Son shoot with the outside of his right boot, but the replay showed why when two hands went directly into his back and clearly gave him a shove? Him running into the keeper after the shot should have been the other clue here.
If the game were closer overall, Spurs may have had a real gripe there, which we all want to avoid. Win, lose or draw, we all just want to see games decided by the players, with the exceptions noted, this was a well refereed match 7 total fouls called, with a LOT of good play-on use. Oh and no cards, a real display in professional refereeing.
What’s Next for Spurs?
From here Tottenham must wait for more than a week to find out their Quarterfinal opponents. At this point, this team can beat anyone on any given day. And as they showed with a very good Borussia Dortmund team, one that can hold a lead, so ANYTHING is possible in the Champions League! The team also returns to League play on Saturday at Southampton.