Spurs still has ‘lot of work to do’
LONDON: Hotspur still has work to do to reach the next round of the Champions League despite a convincing 30 victory over Borussia Dortmund in their last16 firstleg match yesterday, manager Mauricio Pochettino says.
Tottenham stunned the Germans with a goal two minutes after halftime from South Korean forward Son Heungmin and struck twice late in the game through Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen, who was deployed in an unusual left wing back role, and substitute Fernando Llorente.
‘‘It is a massive, massive performance and effort from my players,’’ Pochettino said.
‘‘My players are heroes. They deserve a lot of praise because their effort this season is amazing.
‘‘It is only the first half of the tie — 30 is a very good result, but we must go to Dortmund with the idea of winning. It is a very good result but there is a lot of work to do.’’
The second leg is in Germany on March 5.
Tottenham was on the backfoot in the first half against the Bundesliga leader, which had conceded only two goals in the entire group stage and had the better scoring chances.
The Argentine coach said he had to talk to his players at halftime to discuss ways of slowing their opponents down, especially Jadon Sancho who wreaking havoc down the wing.
‘‘I would not say the team were nervous but the second half was much better. At halftime we showed them a few situations that could have been different,’’ Pochettino said.
‘‘We tried to help the team make the right decisions and perform in the best way. You need some luck, too. For me it is only the first leg, the first half but it is a very good result.’’
In the other last16 clash yesterday, Real Madrid’s winger Marco Asensio scored a late winner in a 21 victory at Ajax Amsterdam, which was left to rue a goal disallowed by the video assistant referee
Asensio netted in the 87th minute from Dani Carvajal’s excellent cross to give Real the advantage heading into the return leg on March 5.
Karim Benzema swept holder Real into the lead in the second half, before Hakim Ziyech scored a deserved equaliser for an energetic Ajax, which created more than enough chances to win comfortably on the night.
It was also denied a firsthalf opener when Nicolas Tagliafico headed home only for the goal to be chalked off after a VAR check in a Champions League first as Dusan Tadic was judged offside.
Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, whose blushes were spared by the VAR decision after his error led to the disallowed goal, felt the officials got it right.
‘‘The correct decision? I think so,’’ he said. ‘‘When it happened I thought it could be offside. When the guy headed it I wanted to go and catch it.
‘‘Because of his [Tadic’s] intention I made a quick movement. Luckily for VAR because nobody would have seen it.’’