Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the Champions League knockout phase with a stunning 3-1 victory over Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Two goals from Dele Alli and one from Christian Eriksen gave Mauricio Pochettino’s side a fully-deserved triumph at Wembley over the championship holders, who were well short of their best and looked vulnerable to every Spurs counter-attack.
These two teams played out a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu two weeks ago, and there was little to separate them in a lively first half, until Alli steered in a Kieran Trippier cross.
England international Alli, who made his MK Dons debut in the FA Cup first round almost five years ago to the day, doubled his side’s lead just after the break with a deflected strike to leave the visitors stunned.
It got worse for Madrid less than 10 minutes later when Eriksen finished after a pass from the returning Harry Kane, and although Cristiano Ronaldo struck a consolation goal, there was little else to smile about for the Spanish and European champions.
The win guarantees a last-16 spot for Spurs and leaves Zinedine Zidane facing a mini-crisis at Madrid, who have now lost two games in a row and are eight points adrift of Barcelona in La Liga.
There was a clear respect between the teams as neither seemed prepared to commit men to the attack early on, with Spurs coming closest through two ambitious chipped efforts from Kane and Harry Winks, easily caught by Kiko Casilla.
The home side’s high pressing looked to have unsettled Madrid, although Pochettino was dealt a blow in the 24th minute when Toby Alderweireld had to go off with what looked to be a thigh muscle problem.
However, just three minutes later they had Wembley on its feet. Tripper sent in a first-time cross from the right and Alli stole in front of Nacho to prod the ball into the net from six yards.
Trippier looked to be fractionally offside when found smartly by Winks, and Madrid frustrations would have grown when Hugo Lloris made three good saves to twice deny Casemiro and Ronaldo.
The half finished in end-to-end fashion, Sergio Ramos blocking a Kane effort, Lloris stopping a Karim Benzema half-volley and Alli seeing penalty appeals waved away after a tussle with Casemiro.
But Alli had better luck 11 minutes into the second half. Having skipped past the challenge of Casemiro, his shot from 18 yards took a big deflection off Ramos and nestled into the net past the wrong-footed Casilla.
Nine minutes later Spurs had their third. A blistering counter-attack started by Alli saw Kane send Eriksen clean through on goal, and he made no mistake with a low left-foot finish past Casilla.
Madrid have not failed to score in a group game since October 2015, and they did find a consolation, with Ronaldo firing home from close range after a scramble in the Spurs box, but it did little to take the gloss off one of the London club’s most famous wins in their modern history.
In other Champions League results:
Shakhtar Donetsk shored up second spot in Group F as a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Feyenoord edged them closer to the Champions League knockout stages.
Danilo Pereira’s first Champions League goal helped secure a 3-1 win over RB Leipzig that leaves Porto well-placed to qualify for the competition’s knock-out stage.
Borussia Dortmund’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages hang by a thread after a costly 1-1 Group H draw against APOEL at Signal Iduna Park.
Sergio Aguero became Manchester City’s all-time record goal-scorer and fired Pep Guardiola’s side into the knockout stages of the Champions League as they claimed a thrilling 4-2 win at Napoli.
Sevilla got their revenge on Spartak Moscow with a 2-1 win that brings their Champions League campaign back on track, just two weeks after suffering humiliation in Russia.
Liverpool took a step towards the Champions League knockout stages with a hard-fought 3-0 win at home to Maribor on Wednesday that sent them top of Group E with two games to play.
Besiktas are on the brink of qualifying for the knockout rounds of the Champions League for the first time since the competition was rebranded after earning a 1-1 draw at home to Monaco.
