Ronaldo celebrates after seeing his shot squirm past Gomes
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Tottenham bowed out of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, with a 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid bringing their European adventure to an end.
It was always going to be a lot to ask for Harry Redknapp’s men to overturn a 4-0 first leg deficit in their quarter-final tie, and ultimately that challenge proved too great.
A howler from Heurelho Gomes put the final nail in their coffin, with the Brazilian keeper somehow spilling an ambitious 30-yard shot from Cristiano Ronaldo over the line.
Spurs did, however, prove that they are capable of mixing it with the continent’s best with 11 men on the field, following Peter Crouch’s costly dismissal at Santiago Bernabeu.
They could have led at the interval in midweek had decisions gone their way, with three penalty shouts falling on deaf ears.
Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Roman Pavlyuchenko all tumbled inside the box, with the latter appearing to have the strongest claim to a spot kick after going over a leg hung out by Raul Albiol.
Any hope of a remarkable comeback evaporated five minutes into the second half when Gomes failed to deal with Ronaldo’s hopeful effort from distance, sending White Hart Lane into silence for the first time on the night.
Substitute Jermain Defoe saw a header from a tight angle hit the post inside the final 20 minutes, but that would be as close as the hosts came to forcing a breakthrough.
Spurs can take plenty of positives from their debut campaign in Europe’s premier club competition, but it is Real who move on to the semi-finals and a mouth-watering contest with arch-rivals and tournament favourites Barcelona.
More to follow…
