Tottenham Hotspur produced a memorable second-half display to take complete control of their Champions League last 16 tie with Borussia Dortmund courtesy of a 3-0 win in the first leg at Wembley on Wednesday.
There was little to separate the two sides at the interval, but Spurs took the lead through the in-form Son Heung-min within two minutes of the restart and further goals from man-of-the-match Jan Vertonghen and Fernando Llorente left Spurs within touching distance of their first Champions League quarter-final since 2011.
Dortmund, who offered no response to Tottenham’s improved second-half display, now have a mountain to climb when they welcome the Premier League outfit back to the Westfalenstadion for the second leg on March 5.
Both sides were missing some key attacking players through injury, and that showed in a first half which lacked clear chances – although Spurs did come within inches of breaking the deadlock after only seven minutes when Lucas Moura’s sweetly-struck volley flashed narrowly wide of the far post.
Most of Dortmund’s best moments in the opening 45 minutes came through either the impressive Jadon Sancho or Tottenham errors, and Chelsea-bound Christian Pulisic almost took advantage of the latter when he was denied by Hugo Lloris from a tight angle.
Lloris then made another routine stop to deny Axel Witsel five minutes later as Dortmund began to gain a degree of control over the game, with Spurs struggling to break down the visitors’ disciplined defensive shape.
The hosts did begin to improve in the final 15 minutes of the half, though, and Christian Eriksen fired one half-chance over before Roman Burki was needed to divert Son Heung-min’s dangerous low cross away from goal.
Sandwiched between those moments was a Thomas Delaney strike at the other end which Lloris parried back into a dangerous area, and the Spurs skipper was called upon again in the final minute of the first half when he turned Dan-Axel Zagadou’s header away from goal after Juan Foyth had done just enough to take the pace off the ball.
Spurs ended the first half without registering a single shot on target, but they corrected that within two minutes of the restart as Son gace the hosts a dream beginning to the second period.
Vertonghen – playing as a left wing-back – was the creator with a delightful delivery into the middle, and Son had cleverley peeled off his man before cushioning his volley into the top corner for his ninth career goal against Dortmund, making the German outfit his favourite opponents.
Suddenly Spurs looked like a different team going forward and it was the unlikely figure of Vertonghen who acted as the main driving force, threatening to get his own name on the scoresheet just before the hour mark with a barraging run which end with a sliced right-footed effort from range.
A crucial last-ditch piece of defending from Zagadou denied Son another clear chance moments later, but Toby Alderweireld rose highest from the resulting corner to force a save from Burki with his glancing header.