Spurs beat Bremen to advance to knockout round

Tottenham marched into the knockout rounds of the Champions League here Wednesday, sweeping aside German outfit Werder Bremen with an emphatic 3-0 victory at White Hart Lane.

First-half goals from Younes Kaboul and Luka Modric followed by a late strike from Peter Crouch sealed a comfortable win for the English Premier League side in Group A.

Spurs now travel to Dutch side FC Twente next month bidding to clinch first place in the group ahead of Inter Milan, a remarkable achievement for Harry Redknapp’s men in their maiden Champions League campaign.

The defeat saw Bremen eliminated from the tournament however as the Bundesliga side’s season took another disappointing turn.

Spurs dominated a one-sided first half and were set on the road to victory after only six minutes when Bremen failed to clear a Tottenham corner.

Aaron Lennon ghosted past Daniel Jensen with embarrassing ease before cutting back superbly to find Kaboul, whose downward shot kicked up off the turf and into the net.

Gareth Bale meanwhile was a constant thorn in the side of the Bremen defence, repeatedly stretching the German back four with his trademark surges down the left flank.

The Welshman almost created a second for Spurs midway through the half, whipping in a dangerous cross which was met by Crouch, whose knockdown was scuffed off target by Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Pavlyuchenko also should have done better on 35 minutes when he was picked out by another pinpoint cross from Lennon, only to take too long to get his shot away which allowed Bremen to block.

There was no such difficulty for Modric on the stroke of half-time however, the diminutive Croatian midfielder controlling a Pavlyuchenko cross before volleying in from close range.

With Tottenham quickly resuming control of the second half, a third goal seemed inevitable and appeared to be in the offing when Felix Kroos bundled over Modric in the area on 54 minutes for a penalty.

Yet Bale’s poor spot-kick was comfortably saved by Tim Wiese, allowing Bremen a brief respite from the onslaught.

The arrival of Jermain Defoe — replacing Pavlyuchenko on 57 minutes — brought one of the biggest cheers of the night, and the striker wasted no time in making an impression, forcing a fine save from Wiese with a rasping shot.

Defoe turned creator on 77 minutes, playing in Bale whose firm low shot flew just wide of the post.

Two minutes later Spurs put the icing on a result which had never looked in doubt, when Lennon nutmegged his marker before squaring for Crouch who finished the simplest of tap ins from close range.