Spurs demolish Dortmund
Son Heung-min sparked Tottenham’s second-half overwhelming of Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League yesterday, setting the London club on its way to a 3-0 victory in the last-16 first leg.
After being on the back foot throughout the first half, Tottenham took control once Son netted two minutes after the break to make it four goals in as many games.
And Spurs then netted two late goals inside three minutes at Wembley Stadium to take a commanding lead to Germany for the return leg on March 5.
Son celebrated with a trademark Tottenham handshake, but went over to Serge Aurier rather than Jan Vertonghen – the provider of the cross.
‘‘I feel sorry,’’ Son laughed after the game alongside Vertonghen, ‘‘because I didn’t run to him and I ran to the other side.’’
Vertonghen got his own chance to celebrate as Tottenham scored two late goals inside three minutes to take a commanding lead to Germany for the return leg on March 5.
Vertonghen raced into the penalty area and arrived at the back post to volley in Aurier’s cross in the 83rd minute.
With Dortmund struggling, Fernando Llorente scored the third in the 86th minute when he got a slight touch with his head to turn in Christian Eriksen’s corner.
Both teams were without their top attacking threats as Dortmund captain Marco Reus and Tottenham’s top scorer
Harry Kane are injured.
It was a night to forget for United States international Christian Pulisic, who will be playing in London for Chelsea next season, and Jadon Sancho, the 18-year-old former
Manchester City attacker who faded in the second half.
‘‘We lost focus,’’ Sancho said. ‘‘Son is a good player but hopefully we can handle him better in the second leg.’’
It is the third setback in a week for Dortmund, who were knocked out of the German Cup by Werder Bremen and then drew with Hoffenheim in the league.
In the night’s other game, Real Madrid left it late to beat Ajax 2-1 in Amsterdam.
The defending champions needed a little help from the video assistant referee to overcome the spirited Dutch outfit in their first leg round-of-16 match and take a big step toward the quarterfinals.
Substitute Marco Asensio’s late strike put Madrid in a strong position going into the second leg on March 5.
Real, winners of the last three Champions Leagues, recovered in the second half after being outplayed by Ajax before the break at a packed Johan Cruyff Arena, when the hosts had a goal disallowed by VAR.
Asensio, a 73rd-minute substitute, was unmarked at the far post as he tapped in a cross from the right by Dani Cavajal with just three minutes of regulation time to go.
Ajax had looked on course for a draw when Hakim Ziyech shot under Thibaut Courtois in the 75th minute to cancel out Karim Benzema’s opener 15 minutes earlier. He had to squint, strain and, eventually, dive headlong into an ice bath after clutching his man of the match bottle of bubbly.
Then it was all Martin Guptill could do to stay awake as he reflected on his 117 not out against Bangladesh, a weary smile at a job well done in New Zealand’s eight-wicket win at Napier’s Mclean Park on Wednesday.
‘‘It still wasn’t my fluent best but to spend some time in the middle and see the team through, I was pretty happy,’’ he said, not long out of the freezing bath to ease his aches.
Another Guptill century – his 15th in ODI cricket – never seemed far away despite his run of six scores of 15 or under, and what he described as a freak back injury which saw him miss the final ODI and Twenty20 series against India.
It was more about his opening partners and who out of Henry Nicholls or Colin Munro will stride out with him to open at the Cricket World Cup in June.
Nicholls wasn’t at his fluent best either but it would have looked picture perfect to coach Gary Stead and the Black Caps brains trust.
In his second opening partnership with Guptill, Nicholls hit 53 off 80 balls and the pair put on 103 in 22.3 overs, chasing a well below par 233 to win.
To put the Black Caps’ top order struggles in context, it was 16 ODIS since the openers had put on 50 and 23 ODIS since their previous century stand: 108 by Munro and George Worker against West Indies in Whangarei in December 2017.
Surely Guptill and Nicholls are the two now, with Munro likely to still go to the World Cup as a utility and batting cover.
‘‘Who knows? Cricket’s a funny game. It may not work next time, you just don’t know. I enjoy