Madrid legends lavish praise on Spurs heroes

JUST four days after England gave Spain a football lesson at the Under 17 World Cup final there was more pain on Wednesday as the goals flew past Madrid at Wembley. Television and radio pundits in Spain, former Real stars Predrag Mijatovic and Jorge Valdano, called it as they saw it, the former suggesting Dele Alli is better than Paul Pogba and the latter that Harry Kane was the complete striker. Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane tried to tell Sergio Ramos to get his side playing out with more confidence but the midfield trio of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro were chasing Harry Winks’ shadow. Zidane, praised for two straight Champions League victories, will be blamed for their worst defeat in the competition since 2005. But for Spain’s press it was more about how good Tottenham were. ‘Pochettino graduates,’ said Marca. Real president Florentino Perez has referred to him privately as ‘my Poch’ so if Madrid’s season ends badly, the Spurs manager will inevitably be courted — as will his players. Diario AS said that Kane could have been carried off ‘shoulder high’ while another commentator said Dele Alli ‘floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee’. Earlier scepticism about Kane has also disappeared. As he burst between Ramos and Marcelo, one radio commentator said: ‘We have to take this guy seriously.’ Tottenham had never scored against Real Madrid until this year. All that has changed. Pochettino and a team full of English youngsters made sure of that.