London: Tottenham Hotspur’s qualification to the Champions League knockout stages as group winners has proved doubters wrong, striker Harry Kane said after the London side’s 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund.
Tottenham were expected struggle in a tough Group H that contained holders Real Madrid and 2013 finalists Dortmund but the London side have progressed to the knockout stages unbeaten with four wins and a draw after five of six fixtures.
“The group we had, a lot of people doubted us and we wanted to prove them wrong,” Kane, who scored the equaliser in Tuesday’s game, said.
“Hopefully we can build on this now for the rest of the campaign.”
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino praised his team and compared this season’s tough draw to last year’s, when Spurs dropped to the Europa League after failing to progress from a group consisting of Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen and CSKA Moscow.
Pochettino also said that the win in Dortmund was a good response to last weekend’s 2-0 defeat by local rivals Arsenal in the Premier League.
“The reaction after Saturday was perfect,” Pochettino said. “The team stepped up and after Saturday, we were ready to compete here in a difficult game against a difficult team and we are so proud.”
Tottenham, who are fourth in the Premier League, host bottom side APOEL Nicosia in their final Group H game in December with their immediate attention turning to Saturday’s league fixture against 17th-placed West Bromwich Albion.
Holders Real Madrid sealed their place in last 16 with a thumping 6-0 victory at APOEL Nicosia after doubles from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo but will still finish runners-up to Tottenham.
Ronaldo wrapped up Real’s biggest Champions League away win with two goals at the start of the second half. He now has 18 in the competition this year, extending his record from 16 and taking his overall Champions League scoring record to 113.
“We can’t do anything about finishing second now. Other teams will not want to face us in the next round and we will do our best to qualify (from the last 16),” said Zidane.
“We know Ronaldo and Benzema are good players and they were going to score sooner rather than later. In a season you always have tough moments but we always thought they would improve.
“That Ronaldo and Benzema both scored twice makes us really happy. We’ve come away delighted, we did everything we wanted to do and we need to carry on like this. In the last three games we’ve scored goals and kept clean sheets.”
