On this day, 2 years ago: Jan Vertonghen inspires Tottenham Hotspur to 3-0 thrashing of Borussia Dortmund on their way to 2019 UCL final
Today marks the two-year anniversary of Tottenham witnessing one of their greatest European nights as they thrashed a hapless Borussia Dortmund at the Wembley Stadium.
Spurs faced a high-flying Dortmund in the round-of-16 clash in the UEFA Champions League. Mauricio Pochettino lined up with a 5-2-1-2 formation against Lucian Favre’s tried and tested 4-2-3-1.
The first half ended with the score at 0-0. And what came next will surely be etched in the memory of every Spurs fan.
Jan Vertonghen, playing as a left-wing-back, put in a delicious cross for Son Heung-min. The South Korean met it perfectly on the volley to make it 1-0 just two minutes into the second half.
The Belgian defender then turned goalscorer just 7 minutes before full-time. In a mirror image of the first goal, Serge Aurier picked out Vertonghen with a perfect cross.
The now-SL Benfica man finished it first-time to make the score 2-0. Just 3 minutes late, substitute Fernando Llorente scored the 3rd goal to completely kill off the game. (h/t BBC)
https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/status/1360544748205797376?s=20
The win vs Dortmund put Tottenham on the European map
Spurs then won the reverse leg at Signal Iduna Park by a 1-0 scoreline on 5th March 2019. Harry Kane scored the solitary goal in that second-leg encounter.
Tottenham, of course, went all the way to the final that season. They saw off Manchester City and Ajax on their way to Wanda Metropolitano.
The final was not the fairytale ending that Spurs would have hoped for. Liverpool scored early on through a Mohamed Salah penalty.
Tottenham bombarded Alisson with shots in the second half but a late Divock Origi goal meant that we only managed the runners-up medal.
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Nevertheless, the fond memories of what went down at Wembley two years ago today still lives on in the heart of each Spurs fan. It was the start of the most wonderful European run in the history of the club.
