Tottenham Hotspur secure top spot in Champions League Group H with 2-1 comeback road win over BVB

It took a dramatic comeback win, but Tottenham Hotspur triumphed over Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in Germany thanks to second-half goals from Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son. That win secures them as the winners of Champions League Group H above Real Madrid, and eliminated BVB form contention to join the Champions League knockout rounds.

The match started with a lightning pace, with Borussia Dortmund taking the game to Tottenham Hotspur’s defense early and often in the first half. They had Spurs on the back foot and looking absolutely scattered for the majority of the first half, and that was highlighted by the sublime opening goal they scored thanks to the gifted feet of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with a wonderful assist from Andriy Yarmolenko.

But Tottenham weren’t down and out just yet, and while their scoring chances were few and far between in the first half, they were still able to create some danger that required Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki to be at his absolute best:

Dortmund would go into halftime with their lead intact, but that wouldn’t last long — Harry Kane scored an absolute screamer just four minutes into the half to equalize, and Spurs started finding ways to claw their way back into the run of play and create more attacking threats. That kicked off a wide-open stretch of play that saw a multitude of scoring chances for both teams, and both Dortmund and Tottenham were unlucky not to find the go-ahead goal at times.

Finally, it was Spurs who struck, with Son finishing off a fantastic move set up by Delle Alli in the 76th minute to give Tottenham a lead they would not relinquish:

The game stayed open as Dortmund chased an equalizer of their own and Spurs looked for an insurance goal, and it was wildly entertaining right up until a frightening moment late in the match that saw substitute Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente mis-time a leap over Dortmund keeper Roman Burki, catching him in the face with his foot, an incident that appeared to leave Burki unconscious for several moments.

He was ultimately subbed out for Dortmund stalwart Roman Weidenfeller, who helped keep Spurs at bay through stoppage time, though BVB couldn’t find a way to create a goal of their own. Tottenham would hold onto their lead, securing their place as the winners of a brutal Champions League group that included Real Madrid, and leaving a shaken Borussia Dortmund team staring at the prospect of still having to fight just to make the Europa League knockout rounds.

Borussia Dortmund: Roman Burki (Roman Weidenfeller 90’+2); Jeremy Toljan, Marc Bartra, Dan-Axel Zagadou (Omer Toprak 78’), Marcel Schmelzer; Julian Weigel; Andriy Yarmolenko, Mario Gotze, Shinji Kagawa (Gonzalo Castro 66’), Raphael Guerreiro; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Goals: Aubameyang (31’)

Tottenham Hotspur: Hugo Lloris; Eric Dier, Davinson Sanchez, Jan Vertonghen; Serge Aurier, Harry Winks, Christian Eriksen (Moussa Sissoko 85’), Danny Rose; Dele Alli (Mousa Dembele 81’); Son Heung-Min, Harry Kane (Fernando Llorente 86’)

Goals: Kane (49’), Son (76’)

There’s been a lot of tension between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Borussia Dortmund this season, leading to multiple suspensions and “disciplinary measures” that have left him sidelined at times this season, including this past weekend. But that doesn’t change that he’s a big difference-maker in Dortmund’s lineup, and he proved that again on Tuesday.

Aubameyang gave Tottenham’s defense absolute fits in their Champions League match, using his pace and elite footwork to keep Davinson Sanchez and Eric Dier off-balance throughout the first half. His opening goal in the match — which went uncelebrated — was trademark in it’s quality, with a screaming finish off a great ball from Andriy Yarmolenko that left Hugo Lloris helpless.

If Aubameyang is this good when he’s not on the same page with his club, just imagine what can happen if they fix their troubled relationship.

One of the things that made Tottenahm so successful and so fun to watch early in the season was how effectively they play as a team. They have some fantastically talented individual players, to be sure, but their effectiveness as a unit made them tough to play against, and that was highlighted when they eased their way past Real Madrid in the Champions League just a few short weeks ago.

But since then, something has been a little bit off for Spurs. That was highlighted when Arsenal waltzed past them in the North London Derby this weekend, and it showed up again in this match. That easy chemistry and flow to the game that Spurs usually have just hasn’t been there, and they struggled badly to get on the same page.

That cost them the opening goal of the match, and while they equalized early in the second half, then found their footing and came back to take their lead, it’s still hard to overlook just how scattered Spurs looked for so much of the match. Yes, they looked like their old selves for stretches of the second half, but it wasn’t consistent enough and took too long into the game to really satisfy concerned fans.

The injury to Toby Alderweireld was one that many Spurs fans dreaded, but it’s given Tottenham the opportunity to give Davinson Sanchez a bigger role in their defense, and based on Tuesday’s results, that can only be a good thing. The 21 year old Colombian center back has already been a regular in Spurs’ back line this season, but he’s starting to assert himself as a lynchpin figure in their back line, and it might not be long before we’re talking about him as one of the better defenders in Europe.

Sanchez signed for Spurs after spending just one year with Ajax following spending his developmental years in his home country, but he hasn’t looked one iota out of place in some huge games for Tottenham. That was again the case against Dortmund where, despite struggling at times against Aubameyang — an attacker that few defenders wouldn’t struggle with — he was very impressive. Sanchez was excellent at shutting down efforts from Shinji Kagawa and Mario Gotze to penetrate Spurs’ back line through his area of the pitch, and he even stopped Andriy Yarmolenko cold when he had to step up to help out wide at times.

That’s no easy feat, and Sanchez deservedly is starting to get a lot of attention. Hopefully we continue to see this young man blossom, because he has the skills and seems to have the head on his shoulders to be a very, very, very good defender.