46 Friday Sports Friday, November 3, 2017 Tottenham stuns Real Madrid 3-1 to reach knockout phase

Madrid’s fragile defense was torn apart too easily

LONDON: Tottenham stunned Champions passage into the last 16 with two games to spare. League holder Real Madrid with a 3-1 victory Tottenham has only competed in the knockout on Wednesday to qualify for the knockout phase phase once before in the 2010-11 season when for only the second time and increase the pres- it was eliminated by Madrid in the quarterfinals. sure on coach Zinedine Zidane. European cham- Then, Madrid beat Tottenham 5-0 on aggre- pions in three of the last four seasons, Madrid gate but the tables have turned. Last month, Tot- hadn’t been beaten in the group stage for five tenham secured a 1-1 draw in the Spanish capital years, and the humbling in London came straight and now it has beaten Madrid for the first time after Madrid’s Spanish as Zidane endured one of league defense was hit the most painful games by a surprise loss at of his 22-month reign. “I Girona. am not worried and I Madrid’s fragile de- never will be worried this fense was torn apart too We now belong season, whatever hap- easily by Tottenham, a among the best pens on the pitch,” Zi- club that hasn’t won the dane said through a English league since in Europe translator. 1961. Dele Alli, sus- Tottenham’s victory pended for the opening came almost seven years three games in Group H, to the day since it beat made an explosive return to the Champions another reigning European champion - Inter League with two goals. Milan - 3-1 in the group stage on Nov. 2, 2010 Christian Eriksen also netted for Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Mauricio Pochettino’s team LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (C) in the 65th minute to build a commanding lead was dumped out in the group stage last season, punches the ball away during the UEFA Champions League Group H that ensured Cristiano Ronaldo’s strike in the but now looks far more adept among the conti- football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid. — AFP 80th was a mere consolation. “We played a very nent’s elite. “You have all seen today that Totten- professional game,” Eriksen said. “We could ham is a big team,” Pochettino said. “We now first visit to Wembley Stadium, which is Totten- without their top scorer. But even their striker have had more if we’d had a bit more composure belong not only among the best in England but ham’s temporary home while White Hart Lane having an off night wasn’t an issue. Even if Alli in the final third.” in Europe. Results like these help people see is being redeveloped across north London. wasn’t commanding throughout behind Kane, it The victory took Tottenham three points where we are going.” Spurs started with concerns about the fitness wasn’t an issue. Kane made a difference when clear of Madrid at the top of the group, ensuring Madrid was outclassed from the start on its of Harry Kane after losing their last two games it mattered. — AP

the main contenders to fill the coaching vacancy Modest Burnley at Everton following the firing of Ronald Koeman. They haven’t had it this good at Turf Moor for a generation, arguably since Burnley finished sixth During home matches, players are al- in 1974 before a downturn that saw the club drop lowed to use oxygen every 15 minutes mixing it with Oxygen tanks out of the top division for 33 years. from handheld canisters lined up on the “We’re not the market leaders, we have to earn side of the pitch to avoid the nausea and heavyweights the right for everything we get,” Dyche said this vomiting associated with altitude sickness. ready as Tibet week. “We are earning respect, a side that feels Lhasa, whose players mostly come from like it can do what the Premier League needs, but areas of China outside Tibet, won promo- London: The latest side threatening to gatecrash there’s still work to be done.” football team tion to League Two after beating the Premier League’s “Big Six” only pulled clear Burnley was a founding member of Football Shenyang Dongjin 2-1 over two legs in a of relegation danger late last season and then sold League in 1888 and has been English champion play-off. two of its best players to make a profit during the make history twice, in 1921 and 1960. It is in its second year The home leg was moved to a neutral transfer window. back in the Premier League after finishing 16th venue in Huizhou, in southern China about Their core values are team spirit and hard last season. Dyche took over the northwest team 4,000 kilometres from Lhasa, supposedly work. Their strikers are no-nonsense, hard-run- SHANGHAI: There may be mid-game in 2012 when it was in the bottom half of the sec- because of problems with the pitch, ning target men - there are no false nines around oxygen breaks, but no team will fancy a ond-tier League Championship and has turned though there were suspicions that it was these parts - and they take pride in the art of de- trip to sky-high Lhasa Chengtou next sea- Burnley into one of the hardest teams to beat in more to do with the altitude. fending. Their atmospheric, 134-year-old ground, son after they made history by becoming England. Lhasa won 2-0 in the first leg and lost with a capacity of 22,500, is in the heart of the the first Tibetan side to reach China’s pro- Go back to the start of the season, though, and 1-0 on Sunday in the return match at local community, offering views of terraced fessional league. Burnley was being tipped for a year-long strug- Shenyang to squeeze into the professional houses in the distance. Lhasa, whose 735-million-yuan ($110 gle. Defender Michael Keane and striker Andre leagues. Burnley is one of the more unfashionable million) stadium is the highest in China and Gray were sold for a combined $65 million and “Football has deep foundations among teams in the world’s richest and most popular one of the highest in the world, clinched the club ended up returning a profit of about $20 the people in Tibet and it is absolutely the league, and it is making a real splash this season. promotion from China’s amateur league to million in the transfer window as a whole. first sport,” Wang Dui, a senior club offi- After 10 games, the Clarets are tied on points with the third tier along with five other sides. They only avoided relegation last season be- cial, told the state Xinhua news agency. sixth-place Liverpool, with only the Manchester But doubts surround whether Lhasa cause of the team’s strong form at home and many “Go and have a look in the older part of clubs, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal ahead of will be allowed to stage games at their wondered if they could keep that up. They have, town in Lhasa, you can see kids playing them. They have won at Chelsea and earned bat- modern Cultural and Sports Center sta- and they are starting to get results away from Turf football everywhere in the alleys after tling draws at Tottenham and Liverpool. dium because of its dizzying altitude 3,658 Moor, too - starting with the 3-2 victory at cham- metres (12,000 feet) above sea level. school. — AFP Their gravel-toned manager of five years, Sean Dyche, is having such an impact that he is one of pion Chelsea on the opening weekend. — AP