Wednesday 6 March 2019 11:11, UK
Christian Eriksen says the maturity Tottenham displayed to beat Borussia Dortmund in Germany and reach the Champions League quarter-finals proves they “have come a long way”.
Mauricio Pochettino's side, who held a 3-0 first-leg lead, withstood a first-half onslaught from the Bundesliga side before Harry Kane's clinical strike after the interval ensured an emphatic aggregate victory.
The victory means Tottenham are through to the last eight of Europe's top-tier competition for the first time since 2011 and Eriksen views it as a "good first step", after eventual finalists Juventus knocked them out in the last 16 last year.
Asked whether they can go on to win the Champions League, Eriksen said: "We take one game at a time. We are through to the next round.
"We have had our experience from the last few games and the last few years in the Champions League and now we are this far.
"We have come a long way and we have done very well to stay consistent. Now we are further than last year so it is a good first step and I hope we go further."
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Hugo Lloris made a series of fine first-half saves as Dortmund attacked the visitors' box in numbers in a bid to get back into the tie, but Kane's goal saw him become Spurs' all-time top European scorer.
"We needed the luck today to keep a clean sheet," the Denmark international added.
"Again in the second half we started to play a bit of football and we saw what the possibilities were. Of course they play very offensive so of course they don't want to defend either.
"In that period there were a lot of spaces to play, we could even have played better some times.
"I think we did show some maturity to come back after the first half which we played was really poor. Of course the first goal killed the game really. It was a blow to them and a big boost to us. Now they had to score a lot of goals to go through."
Ajax ended Real Madrid's Champions League dominance with a remarkable 4-1 victory at the Bernabeu and Eriksen admits the prospect of a meeting with his former side is exciting.
"It could either be a dream or a very big disappointment," Eriksen said.
"It is impressive that they could beat Real 4-1. I am happy for them - it is good for the city and the club to go through as well."
