Tottenham will have plenty to be happy about after their Champions League bow at Wembley.
Not only did they secure important three points at the start of Europe’s elite club competition and recorded a compelling victory but they have also managed to end the poor run of results at their temporary home.
Our full match report can be found below:
Team News & Form Guide
Tottenham Hotspur have endured mixed start to the new season. Mauricio Pochettino’s men failed to win any of their home matches at the start of the 2017/18 campaign, thus extending the negative run to only one win in 11 matches at Wembley.
Spurs were determined to end the poor trend at their temporary home as they welcomed Borussia Dortmund. The German outfit haven’t lost a single match this term but have arrived to England without a couple of important first-team players ruled out through injury.
Erik Durm, Raphael Guerreiro, Marco Reus, Sebastian Rode, Marcel Schmelzer and Andre Schurrle all missed the trip to London due to their respective injuries, although the situation hasn’t been much better with their rivals as well.
Tottenham had to do without suspended Dele Alli, while Erik Lamela, Danny Rose, Georges-Kevin N’Koudou and Victor Wanyama all remained in the treatment room.
First Half
Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to rest Son Heung-Min against Everton last time out proved to be the right one as the fresh South Korea forward made great impact straight from the off by putting Tottenham in front after only four minutes of play.
Son Heung-Min made a fantastic solo run before unleashing a precise shot from inside the box and into the left side of Roman Burki’s goal.
The visiting side responded brilliantly and restored the balance seven minutes later when summer arrival Andriy Yarmolenko got the ball on the edge of the box and thumped it straight into the top left corner without hesitation for a wonderful debut goal for his new club.
It was quite difficult to keep track of all the action going on in the opening stages of the match, but the next notable moment occurred only four minutes after the equalizing goal when in-form Harry Kane made sure to put his side up once again. The England international pulled off an amazing individual effort before firing a shot from inside the box past the helpless Roman Burki.
The forthcoming stage of the match was marked by Borussia Dortmund’s domination. The visitors once again pulled back up on their feet in attempt to restore the result balance, but Tottenham showed plenty of composure at the back with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen both producing important blocks to deny Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from putting pressure on Hugo Lloris.
Second Half
The game did not lose any of its high tempo after the break.
Both Tottenham and Borussia Dortmund showed great desire to a) extend their lead and b) get back on terms and neutralize the deficit. It was hosts who were the first to take the stage in the second half with Harry Kane getting agonizingly close to scoring his second of the game after only five minutes into the second term. The England international ran on the pass from the edge of the box and fired a dropping shot which went just over the bar. Kane took part in an excellent change after merely a minute when he set up Son Heung-Min nicely on the edge of the box and nearly grabbed an assist hadn’t the Korean’s effort curled just over the bar.
The visitors responded to Tottenham pressure through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who managed to put the ball in the back of the net only to find his effort ruled out for offside in 56th minute.
Having missed a great chance earlier on, Harry Kane finally used his chance with an hour gone by as he latched on a wonderful ball from Christian Eriksen inside the box with a strike into the bottom right corner for a comfortable 3-1 lead. Kane’s goal was a punch in the gut for the visiting side who could have gone three goals down eight minutes later. Roman Burki did well, however, to deny Ben Davies’ shot from the edge of the box.
With twenty minutes left on the clock the chances started flying on both ends of the pitch.
Jeremy Toljan was close to cutting the deficit for Dortmund after a corner kick but Hugo Lloris was composed enough to pull a last-ditch save. Christian Eriksen had a fine chance five minutes later on the other side after firing a great shot wide of the left post, whereas Harry Kane could have easily grabbed a hat-trick with nine minutes left to be played as he produced an inaccurate shot latching on a cross inside the box.
There were no changes to the scoreline until the end of the match, however, as Tottenham survived the last couple of minutes with a man down after Jan Vertonghen got dismissed with his second yellow after a reckless foul. Spurs thus managed to build on a comfortable 3-0 win over Everton with another strong performance and, more importantly, end the Wembley hoodoo.
Statistical Overview
- Spurs won only 1 of their last 11 matches at Wembley prior to this match
- Harry Kane scored 6 goals in last three matches for club and country
- Dortmund dominated the proceedings with 63% possession to Spurs’ 37%
- BVB suffer their first defeat of the season excluding the German Super Cup
- There were over 2.5 goals in all three meetings between the two sides
TOTTENHAM: Lloris 7 – Aurier 6.5, Alderweireld 7.5, Vertonghen 5.5, Davies 7 – Son 7.5 (Sissoko 6), Dembele 7, Dier 7, Eriksen 8 – Kane 8.5 (Llorente -).
Unused subs: Foyth, Trippier, Vorm, Walker-Peters, Winks.
BORUSSIA DORTMUND: Burki 7 – Piszczek 6.5, Sokratis 6.5, Toprak 6 (Zagadou 6), Toljan 7 – Dahoud 6.5 (Castro 6), Sahin 6, Kagawa 6 (Gotze 6) – Yarmolenko (7.5), Aubameyang 7, Pulisic 7
Unused subs: Isak, Philipp, Subotic, Weidenfeller.
REFEREE: Gianlucca Rocchi
Other results this evening
FC Porto 1-3 Besiktas
Feyenoord 0-4 Manchester City
Liverpool 2-2 Sevilla
Maribor 1-1 Spartak Moscow
RB Leipzig 1-1 AS Monaco
Real Madrid 3-0 APOEL
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Napoli
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