Champions League: Tottenham Hotspur beat Werder Bremen to move into last 16; Gareth Bale stuns all
Result: Tottenham Hotspur 3 - Werder Bremen 0
Tottenham Hotspur marched into the last 16 of the Champions League and their fairytale run continues as they thrashed Werder Bremen 3-0 at White Hart Lane.
With one game still to be played, Spurs’ qualification from Group A is indeed a huge achievement considering their last campaign came almost half a century ago.
The Lilywhites may be the wild-cards of the knockout stage but no team would like to come up against the likes of Gareth Bale in the form that he is showing.
The north-London club’s opening goal came in the 6th minute through Younes Kaboul. Luka Modric doubled the scoreline in the 45th
minute and then Peter Crouch banged in the third and final goal in the 79th minute to finish off the tie. There was a slight setback for the home team when Gareth Bale missed a penalty in the 54th minute. But it didn’t turn out to
be a costly miss as they cruised to a comfortable victory.
There was one major absence from the Spurs camp in the form of Rafael van der Vaart. In the Dutchman’s absence, Redknapp decided to start with two strikers Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko and it paid off brilliantly.
Aaron Lennon enjoyed a good game. The winger easily beat Dominik Schmidt and then crossed for an unmarked Kaboul who made no mistake and opened the scoring. This was the Frenchman’s 2nd goal in as many games.
In the 20th minute Jermaine Jenas got injured and was replaced by Wilson Palacios, who brought a much needed life into the game. There were a string of attacks between 1st and goal which should have been converted
but poor finishing let the team down. In the injury time of the 1st half, Modric scored a brilliant goal on Hutton’s cross. Crouch also played a part in the makeup of that goal.
In the 2nd half, Redknapp’s team kept the pressure and were duly rewarded 11 minutes from time. Bale’s cross hit the woodwork but Lennon cutback the rebound for Crouch to score the 3rd and final goal. Bale
was later withdrawn only to be given a standing ovation for his man of the match performance.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp was delighted with the win and proud at the same time as they qualified for the knockout stage of the competition as group winners ahead of current European Champions Inter Milan.
Talking to the media, Redknapp said that he believes it was a tough group to qualify from but his team has made it look quite simple.
He said: “Overall I think we've done very well. We want to win it [the group], you want that top spot if you can get it. It looks as though most big teams will finish top of their group so it's important if you can finish top.”
Harry was also relieved that his team has already qualified and they can now relax for their last group match against FC Twente at De Grolsch Veste.
He added: “It was a good performance tonight: we didn't get stretched defensively but when we did I think William Gallas was outstanding. He has brought an awful lot to the team. There were some great performances from everybody
and I've been delighted with all of them.”
The 63-year-old Englishman know the strength of the Tukkers is at home and they are hard to beat so it will be nice to go there with no pressure on his team.
Tags: