Tottenham: Why Spurs are proving a tough nut to crack

Tottenham Hotspur showed they were no pushovers in the Champions League when they held Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday night.

Spurs showed some spunk when they forced Raphael Varane into an own goal through a deflection after a cross from Serge Aurier.

The current holders were forced to play catch up against the Premier League side, but Real were not to be denied for long; more so in front of their own supporters.

Aurier conceded a penalty which was thoroughly disposed by Cristiano Ronaldo in the closing moments of the first half.

 

Resilience against the best

It was an end-to-end encounter after the interval with both sides having their fare share of chances, but it was Spurs who had a moment of nearly-but-not-quite when Harry Kane’s pile driver of a shot was parried by an instinctive save from Keylor Navas deep in the second half.

Tottenham had every reason to be chuffed by the result as the draw elevated them to top of Group H with seven points; only ahead of the Spanish giants by virtue of away goals despite being level on points.

Furthermore, it was only the third time Real Madrid had been held to a draw at the Bernabeu in their last 24 Champions League games, with wins in the remaining 21 matches.

Spurs stood up against the 12-time European champions and as such are in pole position to advance into the last sixteen of the Champions League at the expense of Apoel and Borussia Dortmund.

 

Dark horse in the Premier League

Their joy may have been dampened after the loss to Chelsea and their inexplicable draws to Burnley and Swansea City, but normalcy has been restored after wins over West Ham, Huddersfield and Bournemouth.

Tottenham are third in the Premier League table and look to be in the title challenge for the third year running under the custodianship of Mauricio Pochettino; albeit as dark horses with the two Manchester clubs hogging all the headlines.

 

Written by Brian Humphrey

Follow Brian on Twitter @brihum

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