Real Madrid Vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 2011 UEFA Champions League: Hosts Cruise To 4-0 Victory

Real Madrid all but secured passage to the Champions League semi-finals as they put visiting Tottenham Hotspur to the sword at the Santiago Bernabeu. Prior to the match, with both teams struggling with injury, Real manager Jose Mourinho had claimed that a 0-0 draw would have been a thoroughly acceptable result for his side, so one can only imagine that he’s fairly please with the result - the game ultimately ended at 4-0 and the hosts could have scored more.

Tottenham’s match started badly as winger Aaron Lennon was taken ill in the tunnel and forced out of the game, replaced at the last minute by Jermaine Jenas, who was dreadful throughout, and things got even worse for Harry Redknapp’s side as they conceded from the first corner of the match. Ex-Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor rose unmarked at the far post to power a header past both Heurelhio Gomes and Luka Modric to give the hosts an early lead, and things hardly got better from there.

Peter Crouch went into referee Felix Brych’s book after nine minutes with a dreadful sliding challenge on right back Sergio Ramos, which wouldn’t normally be a problem but for him repeating the feat on left back Marcelo less than seven minutes later. Again Brych reached for his pocket. Out came another yellow, then a red, and within sixteen minutes of stepping out onto the pitch, the England striker’s night was over. So too was Tottenham’s although it would take some time for them to realise that.

Spurs carried on bravely, despite being thoroughly disadvantaged by being both a man down and worse at football, and nearly managed to close the gap in the first half thanks to a series of long balls pinged out to Gareth Bale. Although he didn’t manage to score, he did cause Pepe to go into the book and thus pick up a suspension for the return leg, and only the leniency of the referee spared Ramos a similar fate.

Despite their spirited play (Michael Dawson in particular was at his throw-my-body-at-everything-I’m-an-English-central-defender-pain-is-no-problem best), Tottenham were very lucky not to go into the break further behind. Real dominated in the middle of the park, and a series of mistakes by Spurs’ midfielders caused by pressure from Sami Khedira led to some real chances for the home side that went untaken. Furthermore, Brych elected not to point at the spot when Angel di Maria had a shot quite clearly blocked by the raised arm of Michael Dawson, a bizarre decision which would have been more important had Real not started to rack up goals in the second half.

With the score 1-0 at the interval, one would have to imagine that Harry Redknapp would have been desperately hoping not to concede in the second half. However, the manager still apparently nursed hopes that he could nick an away goal, sending Jermain Defoe in for the ineffective Rafael van der Vaart. It didn’t work - Tottenham were on the back foot from the beginning, and Defoe’s first touch only came in the 52nd minute.

Adebayor would score off a Marcelo cross shortly thereafter, bringing his total against Tottenham to ten goals in thirteen competitive matches, and although Bale had a sliver of a chance immediately following Real’s second, it never looked like Madrid would be happy to stop at two. For a while, Gomes and some strange decision-making kept the hosts at bay, but it wasn’t really too long before Angel di Maria wrapped the game and tie up with a sumptuous diagonal strike.

Then came the (surprise!) raft of Tottenham injuries. Gareth Bale was laid low by cramp and looked in a worrying amount of pain as he lay crumpled in the Madrid half, but while Bale was eventually able to get back up and running, right back Vedran Corluka was nowhere near as lucky. An ankle injury forced him hobbling off the pitch, and with Spurs desperately low on right backs Redknapp was forced to commit centre half Sebastian Bassong to the fray in his place.

Jose Mourinho was making substitutions too, taking off Khedira as well as goalscorers Adebayor and di Maria, sending on Lassana Diara, Gonzalo Higuian, and Kaka to replace them, the last of whom was involved in the final goal. For some reason the veteran Gomes allowed Cristiano Ronaldo’s near-post volley from Kaka’s floated pass to squeeze past him and into the net to make things 4-0.

Bby that point everyone watching realised that the quarter-finals were more or less over. Three minutes of injury time came and went, and Tottenham trudged off the field while Madrid celebrated in front of their fans. It will now take a miracle of unprecedented proportions at White Hart Lane next week to keep Spurs in the Champions League - but it could have all been very different had Lennon been fit and Crouch not been quite so stupid.