Long after Wembley Stadium had erupted, then emptied, the scoreline remained up on the big screen, white on a sharp blue background: 3-0. Like England’s 5-1 in Munich, there will be a fair few photographic mementos of that sight.
German teams do not lose 3-0 in European knockout games, not the Bundesliga leaders anyway. Yet there it was, Borussia Dortmund swept away by a simply phenomenal second-half performance from Mauricio Pochettino’s side. Tottenham rampant, the tie close to won at the halfway stage.
There have been some big European nights under this manager, but the stage of the competition makes this arguably the biggest. The group win against Real Madrid in 2017 had only limited value. Madrid lifted the trophy, Tottenham went out in the last 16. But here? This should see Tottenham through to the quarter-finals, and send a little tremor through the rest of the clubs in the draw. Who will want to face the team that took Dortmund apart, regardless of their historic pedigree in this competition?
Forward Fernando Llorente added a third after coming off the bench late on to put Spurs in control of the tie
Llorente celebrates after scoring Tottenham’s third goal of the Champions League tie in the 86th minute
Defender Jan Vertonghen doubled Spurs’ lead in the final 10 minutes of last-16 tie with a left-footed volley
Vertonghen celebrates after scoring Tottenham’s second goal in the 83rd minute of the match against Borussia Dortmund
Tottenham’s Son Heung-min scores their first goal of the game against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League tie
Son celebrates after scoring Tottenham’s opener in the 47th minute of the Champions League clash at Wembley Stadium
Son celebrates after opening the scoring two minutes after half-time with a tidy volley from a Vertonghen cross
Son celebrates with his Tottenham team-mates after breaking the deadlock in the second half in the first leg of last-16 clash
Dortmund had the best of the first half, no doubting that. They looked sharp and dangerous, not least Jadon Sancho, who showed English football exactly what it was missing, and Christian Pulisic, who looked as if he could be lively in the blue shirt of Chelsea, although no Eden Hazard.
But after half-time? Oh, my. A different Tottenham emerged and Dortmund could not handle them; could not handle their energy, their high press, their finishing. Dortmund wanted to pass the ball into the net, Tottenham hit back with three one-touch finishes, two volleys and a header. It was beautiful football, but economical, too. They didn’t soften Dortmund up. Every punch simply dumped them on the canvas.
Naturally, one man started it. Son Heung-min loves playing Dortmund, as the record books show. He has scored more goals against them than any other club: five in five games during his time with Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, and now four in five games for Tottenham in Europe. It is an amazing run.
Yet credit, also, where it is due. Son’s intervention on Wednesday night was not fated or inevitable. His form against Dortmund, the certainty of him scoring, is not actually written in the stars. This was the work of a striker absolutely at the top of his game, the man who has kept Tottenham’s season warm while they await the return of Harry Kane and Dele Alli.
It wasn’t just that he found a way around the yellow wall again; right now, Son could find a way through just about any defensive line. With Tottenham beset by injuries he is keeping the momentum going in this corner of north (west, temporarily) London. If Kane and Alli are restored to a team that is still in the Champions League and title contention, they will know who to thank. Son has scored 11 goals in his last 12 games, and more importantly, in ten of the last 12, too. He is getting a lot of singles, which is keeping Tottenham hot; his goals are often the vital breakthrough, plus the odd winner.
Nice, too, that so many of his countrymen – and women – are making the journey to see the best Asian player in Premier League history. The streets around Wembley before kick-off were noticeably peopled by either visitors from Asia or members of the ex-pat Korean community in Britain.
Borussia Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou heads the ball on target towards the end of the first half at Wembley Stadium
Hugo Lloris manages to save the header from Zagadou and prevent Spurs from going behind before the break
Lloris produced a good save to deny Zagadou from opening the scoring for Borussia Dortmund in the first half of the clash
Tottenham’s Lucas Moura shoots at goal early on in the last-16 clash but his volley was just wide of the post
Moura and Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki watch the volley just go the wrong side of the post in the first half
There have been good Korean players here before, but none quite like this. Ji Sung-Park had an excellent spell at Manchester United, but he was invariably part of the fine supporting cast, rather than a marquee name.
Son is Tottenham’s star right now – surely their player of the season – and a genuine contender for Footballer of the Year. He led the line on Wednesday night, broke the deadlock and inspired a victory against a team that is favoured to be Germany’s champions come May.
This equalled Dortmund’s heaviest Champions League defeat. An early goal or two in the away fixture and who knows, but it would take a catastrophe for Tottenham not to progress now.
A word too, for Jan Vertonghen. He says he hates playing full back, let alone wing back, but took to the role like Roberto Carlos after half-time. He made Son’s goal and scored the second. The third, a Fernando Llorente header from Christian Eriksen’s corner, came at a time when Dortmund were quite simply in despair. It may be the one that finished them off, too.
Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho dribbles with the ball during the Champions League encounter on Wednesday evening
Tottenham midfielder Moussa Sissoko (right) tackles Borussia Dortmund defender Achraf Hakimi during a tight first half
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino watches on as his side faced Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday
Son struck the first blow, though, undoing so much good first-half work from the visitors. Tottenham’s high press boxed Dortmund in and possession was conceded by Achraf Hakimi on the left flank. Vertonghen’s cross passed over the head of defender Dan-Axel Zagadou, who was poorly positioned, and Son took it on the volley, perfectly placed, into the corner of the net.
The second took a similar route to goal. This time the cross came from right back Serge Aurier – who did well to keep out of further trouble after a 12th minute booking – and Vertonghen’s run took him beyond his man at the far post, another volley defeating goalkeeper Roman Burki.
The last time Dortmund visited Wembley it was they who had the injury problems, and Tottenham blew them away that day too. No-one was imagining a repeat on this occasion, however, with Tottenham at a disadvantage, but the warning signs were there early.
Tottenham pressed high and buzzed around in midfield, without testing Dortmund greatly, bar one shot from Son, which Burki kept out with his legs, and another from Lucas Moura which travelled just wide. Yet the strategy, when properly executed, worked.
Tottenham’s Brazilian midfielder Moura (left) vies with Borussia Dortmund’s Turkish defender Omer Toprak at Wembley
Spurs defender Juan Foyth (left) fights for the ball with Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Gotze in the first 45 minutes
At that point, however, Dortmund still looked the stronger, Sancho in particular. What a boon he would have been for Manchester City, had his club been more interested in giving the best of their youth team a promotion opportunity.
Sancho certainly made the right call, when deciding he had more to offer than City were willing to place on show. He was at the heart of all that was good about Dortmund in the first half, not least one move that he began by taking two Tottenham men out of the game, laying the ball off, before joining in again farther down field and whipping in a cross that only came to grief when it clipped one of his team-mates on its way into the area.
Still, for all Dortmund’s pressure – and this is an improved team on 2017, injuries notwithstanding – actual chances were limited. In the 15th minute, Tottenham got into a terrible tangle when the desire to play out from the back became a cheque they could not cash. Toby Alderweireld was placed under pressure and clipped one in a panic to Juan Foyth, who received the ball with all the pleasure he might a parking ticket. Pulisic pounced but the angle was tight and Lloris saved at the near post.
Thomas Delaney forced another save from Lloris after 35 minutes, but Dortmund’s best chance came just before half-time. Sancho crossed from the right, the ball finding Zagadou at the far post. The pace was taken out of his header by Foyth, allowing Lloris to claw it back when it seemed certain Dortmund were going to take the lead.
Not quite Gordon Banks in Guadalajara, but on the night Wembley fell briefly silent in memory of the greatest goalkeeper, he would have surely appreciated the athleticism of a fellow World Cup winner; and later the worth of another Wembley victory over the Germans, of course.
Borussia Dortmund defender Hakimi (left) vies for the ball with Tottenham defender Vertonghen on Wednesday evening
Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks (second right) fights for the ball with Borussia Dortmund midfielder Christian Pulisic