The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Red-hot Spurs.
Tottenham and Manchester City advance and Liverpool move step closer at Anfield
Christian Eriksen, left, celebrates with Harry Kane and Dele Alli after scoring Tottenham’s third goal in a 3-1 Champions League victory over holders Real Madrid at Wembley.
Tottenham delivered one of the finest victories in the club’s history as Dele Alli scored twice in a 3-1 demolition of Real Madrid at Wembley.
Spurs sealed qualification for the Champions League knockout stages in the most dramatic style, with two goals from Alli and one from Christian Eriksen on a memorable night.
The home fans were even cheering their side’s every pass with 20 minutes left as Mauricio Pochettino’s men threatened to humiliate their starstudded opponents, before Cristiano Ronaldo added a late consolation.
Victory means Tottenham move top of Group H on 10 points, three ahead of their Spanish opponents with two games remaining.
The last time Spurs overcame the European champions was in 2010 when Gareth Bale inspired them to beat Inter Milan by the same scoreline, but this was nothing if not a team performance.
Harry Kane, having overcome a hamstring injury, was irrepressible up front while Eriksen, Harry Winks and Kieran Trippier, along with Alli, could all lay claim to leaving as man of the match.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino was keen to focus his players’ minds on the next domestic challenge.
“It gives great belief and confidence to everyone because it’s a great result and we are in the next stage of the Champions League but it’s so important now to keep feet on the grass,” he told BT Sport.
“We need to be ready to compete against Crystal Palace.”
A record-breaking goal from Sergio Aguero sent Manchester City into the knockout stages with a brilliant 4-2 win at Napoli.
Aguero struck in the 69th minute at the imposing San Paolo Stadium to enter the club record books as their leading goal scorer with 178.
It all but settled an absorbing contest in which City had responded to Lorenzo Insigne’s early strike with goals from Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones, only to be pegged back again by a Jorginho penalty.
Raheem Sterling put the gloss on City’s win in the closing moments.
Both sides also hit the woodwork as the leaders of the Premier League and Serie A played out a high-quality game in keeping with their outstanding form.
City’s fine performance came after a sluggish start as Napoli fans delivered the intimidating atmosphere manager Maurizio Sarri had requested.
Napoli, by contrast, were sharp and produced a number of good attacks as they dominated the opening quarter.
However, City grew into the game and produced a noteworthy win with a mature performance.
Aguero said: “Napoli are a good team, winning away in the Champions League is always difficult, so I am happy to win and we have qualified.
“We have to keep going the same way, every game we play the same way, we need to keep going because it is a long season.”
Liverpool edged closer to qualifying for the knockout stages with a workmanlike 3-0 win over Maribor at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are hardly charging towards their target – despite the 7-0 thrashing of the Slovenians a fortnight ago – and this match reflected their incremental progress in Group E.
Back-to-back wins over Maribor, courtesy of leading scorer Mohamed Salah’s 10th of the season, a classy Emre Can goal and a late Daniel Sturridge strike, mean they lead Sevilla by a point and victory in Spain in three weeks’ time would see the Reds qualify with a match to spare.
They could even afford another squandered missed penalty, a fourth in succession at Anfield, as James Milner missed his second in a row having scored his first 10 for the club.
Can was relieved to see Liverpool’s patience pay off. He told BT Sport: “It wasn’t easy against them but second half after the goal we did well, we found space and we just had to be patient.
“I’m happy that I could help the team (by scoring). It was good ball from Milly (Milner), I found space and put it in the corner.
“We could do it better but it’s still early in the season. I think now we are in a good position in the Champions League and if we win the next two games we will carry on.”