Tottenham fans spent Wednesday evening ‘ole-ing’ as they passed the ball around Real Madrid, the European champions, for fun. Yes, really.
This was as good as it gets. To a man, Tottenham were faultless. Dele Alli has grabbed the headlines with his brace, supported as ever by the brilliant Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane, even if the latter was a rare absentee from the scoresheet.
It was a night too, for players like Eric Dier and Kieran Trippier, to remind us of their status as Spurs’ unsung heroes.
Dier seamlessly moved into defence following Toby Alderweireld’s injury; the only real negative of the night is that the Belgian is likely to be out for a few weeks.
And isn’t there just something poetic about Trippier doing a number on Marcelo? The right-back has six more assists in 2017 in all competitions (13) than any other Premier League defender, yet he continues to surprise.
The reality is that although this famous performance will go down in Spurs’ history as one of their most memorable ‘glory, glory nights’, it shouldn’t be the last.
Zinedine Zidane described them as the better team on the night and admitted before the game that Mauricio Pochettino’s men are one of several sides who could go on and win the whole competition.
The Premier League’s representatives are enjoying something of a revival in Europe and all five English teams should qualify. Manchester City and Manchester United are expected to go the furthest, if not all the way. Is it premature to suggest that Spurs can count themselves in the same bracket?
For now, that is probably getting a little carried away. What is clear, though, is that Spurs are no longer simply flirting with Europe’s elite clubs, they can count themselves among them.
Pochettino’s aim was to get them to be competitive against the top sides. They’ve gone one better than that.
When they last met Real in the 2010/11 season, they were happy just to be in the Champions League. They were never a Qarabag or a Maribor, but they still watched on in awe when Jose Mourinho replaced Cristiano Ronaldo with Kaka in the second leg at White Hart Lane. Such was the gulf back then.
That quarter-final ended 5-0 to Madrid, with the White Hart Lane faithful applauding their team off the pitch nonetheless. It is quite astonishing how far they have come since then.
Last night’s result has undoubtedly hurt the Spanish press, who are torn between laying into Zidane and questioning which Spurs players could one day swap their Lilywhite shirt for the jerseys of Los Blancos.
The most pessimistic will fear that Alli has once again brought himself to the attention of Florentino Perez. The 21-year-old does not necessarily need to leave north London to further his career, nor do any of his team-mates, many of whom may be enjoying the best years of their careers under Pochettino.
It takes a special group of players to escape the so-called Group of Death with such ease. A group consisting of Real, Borussia Dortmund, and APOEL Nicosia was met with dread. The next time their name is pulled out of the hat, they can afford to be much more confident, regardless of who they’re paired with.
If they were not already, the clubs at the top table now ought to be taking Spurs very seriously indeed as they march on into the last 16.
