Tottenham 2-0 Dortmund: Frank eases pressure as patched-up Spurs earn victory

Patched-up Spurs' best 45 minutes of the season relieved some of the mounting pressure on Thomas Frank with a 2-0 win over 10-man Borussia Dortmund.

Match Report

Despite having only 11 outfield players available and with ongoing questions over their head coach's future, Tottenham produced 45 minutes of the most free-flowing football they have managed since Frank's appointment - and now look set to secure a top-eight finish in the Champions League league phase.

Spurs have reserved many of their best performances for European competition this season but this still represented the pick of the bunch and came against the most high-profile opposition they have hosted in this tournament under Frank.

In a perfect example of necessity being the mother of invention, makeshift left winger Djed Spence was their best player in that opening period but saw the headlines go to the goalscoring duo of captain Cristian Romero and the returning Dominic Solanke.

Spence did at least win the corner leading to Romero's opener, recycled by Wilson Odobert and fired home by the centre-back 14 minutes in, which gave Spurs a lead that even by then they richly deserved.

After watching five months of insipid football, the home fans were regularly off their seats as Spurs cut apart their visitors at will, taking full advantage of their clear physical edge, threatened with every attack and lacked only the second goal their performance deserved.

Their task was given a boost with less than half an hour played when Daniel Svensson was sent off for a high challenge on Odobert following a VAR review, and 11 minutes later Spurs finally had their cushion as the French winger's cross was bundled home - though not without ricocheting off his own calf first - by Solanke on his Champions League debut.

Spurs went in at the break without giving away a single shot though there was still a worry there could be another sting in the tail their fans have become accustomed to witnessing. A half-time double change did improve Dortmund, but Julian Ryerson's free-kick minutes after the interval was as close as they came to inspiring a collapse from the hosts.

Instead, the one frustration for Frank on an otherwise hugely encouraging night was an injury suffered by Lucas Bergvall, which did at least herald the arrival of 17-year-old debutant Jun'Ai Byfield to become Spurs' youngest ever Champions League player.

The teenager slotted in comfortably at right-back as Spurs celebrated an unfamiliarly comfortable victory to give Frank a few days out of the spotlight - at least until the weekend trip to Burnley.

Match Events

14' GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Dortmund (Cristian Romero)

25' Red Card! Daniel Svensson Sent Off

37' GOAL! Tottenham 2-0 Dortmund (Dominic Solanke)

Line-ups

Tottenham XI: Solanke, Vicario, Danso, Cristian Romero, Spence, Porro, Udojie, Xavi Simons, Odobert, Gray, Bergvall

Subs: Austin, Muani, Dane Scarlett, Kinsky, Callum Olusesi, Yusuf Akhamrich, Malachi Hardy, Jun'ai Byfield, James Rowswell, Lucá Williams-Barnett, Tynan Thompson

Dortmund XI: Brandt, Guirassy, Anton, Kobel, Bensebaini, Adeyemi, Schlotterbeck, Nmecha, Yan Couto, Daniel Svensson, Jobe Bellingham

Subs: Meyer, Emre Can, Sule, Ryerson, Fábio Silva, Beier, Chukwuemeka, Filippo Mane, Ostrzinski, Duranville, Aarón Anselmino