Champions League (Quarterfinals, 2nd Leg)

TOTTENHAM 0 - REAL MADRID 1

Cristiano combed in old way, with a side parting, to perform at White Hart Lane. He came with a bright head, well-slicked and manufactured by the hairdresser for the occasion. The shine of his appearance helped the Tottenham fans to receive him as the wanted enemy to return. The tide of fans that packed the stands of the London field, charged the match preliminaries with passionate songs, hymns, invocations to heroism, and booing the Portuguese striker. The audience was the most emotional of a night without competitive tension on the grass. To reach his status as local villain, Cristiano stoned the tie five minutes after the restart. It was in his fourth shot from outside the area. The first to goal. Gomes came out to clear it with his fists, as afraid to try the blocking, and the ball, which has aspirited effect, ended up inside his net. The tie ended in that instant. But even then, at White Hart Lane was heared the local version of "When the saints go marching in".

Cristiano scored at White Hart Lane

Public seemed to ignore that in the first leg his team had received a 4-0. The will to have a good time, could it all. People pushed their players with feverish determination, but in exchange they returned very little hope. The Spurs never threatened the dominance of its rival. Real Madrid played the first minutes with a barricade, with the kind of stout disposition that characterizes white team, very orderly without the ball. As yesterday was enough to defend a strong position, Madrid had enough to be patient and do not neglect the duties of defense.


Mourinho introduced another innovative starting lineup, especially in the midfield, where he gives the impression that he experienced with the mind set in duels that lie ahead against Barcelona from next Saturday. In Bilbao Pepe was placed ahead of the central defense as "libero". Yesterday, Mou put Marcelo as left midfielder, ahead of Arbeloa, who closed the left side dfense. It was impossible not to think of an essay. Not to stop Lennon and Corluka, but to cut the road to Alves and Pedrito. Marcelo's presence in this area makes no offensive sense. When he can not play from behind, either to initiate or to disrupt the play, it is difficult to him contact with the ball.

If things were difficult for Tottenham, Real Madrid began taking the ball. It had the ball with more rhetoric than attacking intent. Madrid detained the ball in midfield until it reached Özil, who met once opportunity and miscarried it with a soft shot to the hands of Gomes. The English team responded with very little. Dawson melee with Adebayor and Cristiano, Bale challenged Ramos and Van der Vaart tried to guess the moves of Pavlyuchenko. Well placed, Carvalho and Albiol cleared the few attempts, filtered by their fellow members' pressure on the center line. In the only two occasions they did not come, Pavlyuchenko missed the shot. First, he was alone with Casillas and sent over the crossbar. Then Casillas stopped the ball.

Few teams in Europe defend better than Real Madrid. It is difficult to see its defenders in problems. During the first part, just had to clear some pass from Bale or Lennon. However Lennon invited Carvalho to commit an inexplicable mistake in a player of his experience. The Portuguese defender knocked the midfielder at the edge of the area, in an irrelevant movement. The referee showed him the yellow card and Carvalho will miss the first leg of the semifinals at the Bernabeu. It was the only counterproductive fact to Madrid that circulated in the quarter-final with more placid than in most of the days of the Spanish League.

Casillas put ​​three hands to deflect shots from Tottenham and the match languished without consolation for the dedicated British fans. The scoreboard set in stone, it was bad news for the local team. Madrid was not moved. Xabi and Cristiano, who went to the locker room discussing, showed the organizational mismatches when administering the ball to go on the attack. This situation was aggravated by the change in the lineup, but it was a detail that did not affect the course of the tie because Madrid did not need to go and get a result. After the break, Cristiano threw a poisoned shot and the quarter-final was over. Madrid passed to the semifinals for the first time in eight years.

Summary

Stadium: White Hart Lane
Attendance: 36,240
Goals: 0-1. Min. 50. Cristiano Ronaldo