Bundesliga side take 3-0 advantage to White Hart Lane
Borussia Dortmund eased past Tottenham Hotspur this evening thanks to goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and a brace from Marco Reus.
The duo are both focusing on their title-races, with Dortmund five points behind Bayern Munich and Spurs five points behind Leicester City, but attentions were turned to the Europa League this evening.
Dortmund fielded their strongest possible XI, while Spurs decided to name a heavily changed side, with the likes of Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Erik Lamela and Harry Kane all out of the starting XI.
Summary
Despite the changed team, it was Mauricio Pochettino‘s side who had the first chance as Christian Eriksen had a long-range shot which was easily saved by Roman Weidenfeller.
After that early scare, the hosts started to ramp things up and after just 30-minutes they took the lead as Aubameyang headered home past Hugo Lloris.
The goal came after he earlier had a strike correctly ruled out for offside.
Dortmund carved open a few other chances in the first-half, but Spurs managed to keep the score-line at 1-0 and kept themselves in the tie.
The Premier League side then had a great penalty shout turned down as Son was brought down by Sven Bender, but all officials turned the small appeals down.
The game was put to bed just after the hour mark as Reus thundered home from a Neven Subotić knockdown, and the German added his second and Dortmund’s third just nine minutes later after neat build-up play and a lovely finish.
Dortmund will now travel to White Hart Lane feeling confident that the tie is already over as Spurs turn their attentions back to the Premier League.
Match Reaction
Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer, speaking to BT Sport: “We are very disappointed with the performance. Against a team like Dortmund you can’t play like this. We did not press them well.
“It would have been very good for us if we had got one goal here. Now we have to score three at White Hart Lane. If we get an early goal in the next game and put them under a lot of pressure you never know but it is going to be tough for us.”
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, speaking to BT Sport: It is difficult to explain but a bad day and I’m disappointed with our performance. We did not play well. That is why we lost the game.
“We need to fight in the return leg next week. Three nil is not a good result for us but we still need to keep working hard and try next Thursday.
“This was our first time losing 3-0 this season. We need to be calm and be sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
