Goalkeepers save the day
A PAIR of stunning second-half saves from Hugo Lloris salvaged a precious point for Tottenham Hotspur as they held European champions Real Madrid 1-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday.
Both sides remain unbeaten in this season’s Champions League and well placed to progress to the last 16.
They each have seven points after Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty cancelled out Raphael Varane’s own goal in the first period.
“Hugo was fantastic, he deserves a big prize,” Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said.
“We saw why Hugo Lloris is one of the best goalkeepers of the world.
“The performance was fantastic – the effort, the belief, it is important to congratulate our players.”
The sides meet at Wembley on November 1, with the top spot in Group H on the line. Borussia Dortmund’s 1-1 draw at APOEL Nicosia means the Germans and Cypriots remain six points adrift of the group leaders. “We can’t ever be happy not to win at home, but there were two great goalkeepers,” Real coach Zinedine Zidane said.
“Keylor [Navas] for us and Lloris for them.”
The entertaining encounter got off to a flying start as 18-year-old Achraf Hakimi – in his Champions League debut for Real – teed up Ronaldo to head off the post, but Karim Benzema pulled the rebound wide with the goal gaping.
After a nervous opening 10 minutes, Tottenham settled with Harry Kane a constant threat up front. “A point at the Bernabeu, you’d take that every day of the week,” Kane said.
“It shows how far we’ve come as a team.” –