Tottenham vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from Europa League
Borussia Dortmund advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League on Thursday, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at White Hart Lane and 5-1 on aggregate.
Mauricio Pochettino's team selection was a clear indicator that Spurs didn't believe in a miracle after losing 3-0 in Germany, as the hosts played without key figures such as Mousa Dembele and Christian Eriksen—who weren't even in the squad—or Harry Kane.
Dortmund, meanwhile, didn't field their strongest XI either. Thomas Tuchel's side again played with five at the back in the first half, as they presumably expected Spurs to come out firing. That never happened, however, so the game never took off.
Rather, it was "a game at relatively competitive training-match pace," as football writer Miguel Delaney put it on Twitter.
A stunning strike from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 24th minute was the final nail in the hosts' coffin, since they would have needed to score five goals at that point.
The Gabonese doubled his team's lead in the 71st minute, before Heung-Min Son got one back for Spurs three minutes later after an individual mistake from Neven Subotic.
Dortmund now await Friday's draw for the quarter-finals with eagerness: They have to be considered clear-cut favourites for the competition after dismantling Porto and Spurs with ease in the knockout stages so far.
As for Tottenham, Bleacher Report's Thomas Cooper noted there are "definitely some things" they "can take away from this experience for the league run-in."
Here, Bleacher Report picks the winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
1 of 5
There's only one place to start: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang decided the match with a brace and thus earns his spot at the top of our list.
The Gabon international had showed some uncharacteristic wastefulness in recent weeks and will be delighted to have scored twice against Spurs, although it could have been even more.
His first was one of the finest goals of his season—and there are plenty to choose from, seeing as he's now hit 35 across all competitions. Hugo Lloris stretched as much as he could, but there was no saving Aubameyang's brilliant, curling shot from distance.
Local paper Ruhr Nachrichten (link in German) graded him as Dortmund's best performer on the day with a rating that translates to eight out of 10, and it's impossible to argue.
Loser: Heung-Min Son
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It might be a surprise to see the goalscorer ranked as a loser, but Heung-Min Son had a forgettable evening until Subotic gifted him his goal.
The South Korean has "scored more goals against Dortmund (six) than he has against any other team," as WhoScored.com pointed out on Twitter, but that's the only positive he can take away from Thursday's game.
The 23-year-old was virtually invisible until a chance fell to him four minutes from intermission, and he put that one wide by some margin.
Son, who's struggling to get significant playing time in the Premier League, will not have convinced Pochettino that he can be relied upon as anything more than a substitute in the title hunt, especially considering that he led a front line against Dortmund without their best defender, Mats Hummels.
Winner: Toby Alderweireld
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If all of Spurs' players showed the same level of passion as centre-back Toby Alderweireld did against Dortmund, the hosts might have had a fighting chance against the seemingly insuperable Black and Yellows.
The 27-year-old made two insane one-on-one clearances against Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the first half that would have been huge, had the tie not been decided at that point already.
The Belgian looked a notch above his team-mates over the course of the entire tie, and his heroics on Thursday paired with a fine display overall make it difficult to argue with football writer Seb Stafford-Bloor, who tweeted during the game that he considers Alderweireld "the best centre-back in the country."
Loser: Mauricio Pochettino
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Yes, Spurs were better than they were in Germany. Mauricio Pochettino was correct in pointing that out, via Cooper: "In the first leg we didn’t play well. We didn’t compete in the way we usually do. I think we improved our performance level from the first leg. We feel disappointed, but I feel proud for the players."
Still, Dortmund relentlessly revealed Spurs' limitations even though they missed a number of key players, such as Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan.
Tottenham looked flat after the first 10-15 minutes and never came close to threatening Dortmund for the win on the day, let alone in the tie.
One would think that beating a team as strong as the Black and Yellows would have been a huge boost for Spurs in the Premier League title race, so it's disappointing that Pochettino's men never really went for it.
Winner: Julian Weigl
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Twenty-year-old Julian Weigl was arguably the man of the match in the first leg at Signal Iduna Park, and he followed that up with an equally impressive performance on the road.
He again bossed the middle of the park with astounding composure, completing over 95 per cent of his passes, per WhoScored.com. Spurs never got a hand on the central midfielder, who effortlessly evaded challenges all day and distributed the ball with ease.
Dortmund fans have become accustomed to performances like this from Weigl, to a point that they "take for granted how good he's performing in nearly every game at the age of 20," as YellowWallPod.com's Luca Gierl tweeted.
The tie with Spurs might have served as something of a coming-out party on the international stage for Dortmund's impressive youngster.
Tuchel was—understandably—full of praise for Weigl after the game, per Cooper: "We’ve got full confidence in him. He has developed well and even in his young years has proved really reliable."
Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
