Champions League holders Real Madrid suffered one of their worst European defeats as Dele Alli scored twice in Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-1 victory at Wembley on Wednesday to put the London club into the last 16.
The sides began the night locked together as joint leaders of Group H but Tottenham were far superior as they ended Madrid’s 30-match unbeaten run in Champions League group games in stunning fashion.
Alli gave Tottenham the lead from close range in the 27th minute and doubled the home side’s advantage early in the second half before Christian Eriksen put Spurs in cruise control.
Cristiano Ronaldo replied for Zinedine Zidane’s side but it was in vain as Tottenham sealed a first win in six attempts against the Spanish champions who will face further criticism after falling eight points behind Barcelona in La Liga.
Tottenham lead the group on 10 points with Real on seven, followed by Borussia Dortmund and Apoel Nicosia who have two each after a draw in Germany.
Sergio Aguero has become Manchester City’s all-time leading scorer after netting the team’s third goal in its 4-2 win against Napoli.
The Argentina striker moved onto 178 goals for City – one clear of Eric Brook, who scored 177 goals in 453 appearances from 1928-1940.
Aguero has scored his tally of goals in 264 games for City since joining from Atletico Madrid in 2011.
Liverpool cut loose after halftime to beat Maribor 3-0 and take a one-point lead in Group E.
Mohamed Salah and Emre Can scored either side of James Milner’s missed penalty before a late third by Daniel Sturridge, as Liverpool followed up its 7-0 win over the Slovenian team two weeks ago with another convincing victory at Anfield.
Liverpool can secure a top-two finish and a place in the knockout stage by beating Sevilla on November 21 in the fifth round of games.
Sevilla beat Spartak Moscow 2-1 in the other group game Wednesday.
Besiktas moved a step closer to the knockout stages of the Champions League and pushed Monaco nearer the exit after the sides drew 1-1.
In other games Porto beat RB Leipzig 3-1 and Shakhat Donetsk were also 3-1 winners over Feyenoord.
Gavin R
Guest
It would throw a spanner in the works if united draw madrid in the round of 16 and get beat. If Spurs > Real United > Spurs Real > United =???
Gavin R
Guest
Comments such as "shows how superior the EPL is" and "La Liga is on the decline" are clueless. Real (more recently) and La Liga in general have dominated the UCL for the best part of a decade while the English sides have been just shy of embarrassing. Yes they're having a good year and no doubt the quality of city and spurs in particular, along with tournament specialist Mourinho put the EPL in positive light moving forward. Don't forget Atletico's transfer ban seems to be catching up with them.
Gavin R
Guest
Do you think its solely up to real Madrid if he stays or goes when an offer comes in?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
"you are confusing me with someone who cares." I tend to just ignore these people. You lack discipline.
Post_hoc
Guest
Sorry Rick, you are confusing me with someone who cares. I am just calling it as I see it. And when it comes to football you have shown no evidence of actually understanding the game.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I'm devastated by your comment, Post.
Post_hoc
Guest
The thing is Rick, you don't actually know what your talking about. You may think you are caning La Liga or The A league or who ever or what ever. The sad fact is you don't have a clue, and you are not bright enough to know that.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
lol, you two crack me up. Nothing like some good old-fashioned trash-talking of opposing leagues. At least I'm not canning the A-League. Not today anyway. :)
punter
Guest
While whistling dixies.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Keep sipping mate.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
UCL is nothing more than dessert. The main course is the EPL. It will be a tragedy when La Liga teams can't win this no longer, because that's all they have really. No one else (apart from you) cares about it, just like most of the other small-time leagues in Europe. The EPL could buy this peasant competition 2 x over with change. You'll be following it again soon enough.
punter
Guest
Rick, talk to me when they do. The last time the EPL ruled, was when Ronaldo played in the EPL.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Roma could beat those teams, just like those teams could beat Roma. Same with Juve. Napoli is the best team in Italy right now and they are struggling in the UCL compared to Roma and Juve. Atletico are struggling as well. Good teams form all the majors are good enough to beat the others on their day. JYI, I don't think Roma will get any further than the Quarters at best. It is to early in the clubs transformation to go any further for awhile. If a new Stadium ever happens then more money will flow and the team will compete better as well.
Mark
Guest
Too many old players? Only 4 of the starting eleven are over 30, one of whom was the (usually backup) keeper. Real’s problem is more key players being allowed to leave, leaving them without adequate backup in key positions. There is no adequate cover for Benzema (Morata was allowed to leave), Casemiro, Carvajal or at central defence (Pepe was not replaced). Also, they are too predictable in attack and if the usual route to goal isn’t working they don’t have many other ideas. A lot like Melbourne Victory atm actually. With James and Morata leaving, they’ve lost the ability to get goals off the bench.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
He only watches the A-league and the Bulgarian Super League, which would explain why he thought Ronaldo was still playing for United until only recently. Go easy on him.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Spain is on the decline (again), along with La Liga. The European taxpayer is sick of paying for their siestas and football players. Britain doesn't have to worry about this garbage for much longer. Expect the EPL to rule the footballing world.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
He ain't worth 400 million euro. I can think of A LOT of good players you could buy for that kind of coin.
punter
Guest
It's world cup year, the best teams & best players don't get going till next year.
Kangajets
Guest
Mmmm. Ronaldo still goes ok . He probably won’t win the world player of the year again though .
Kangajets
Guest
Nemesis Spurs v real was top notch too . EPL clubs are stepping up this year with high quality managers in Mourinho Guardiola and pottchecino