• Manager jokes that when team’s talisman scores it is game over
• South Korean now has 11 goals from his last 12 club games
Mauricio Pochettino saluted his talismanic goalscorer Son Heung-min after the Tottenham forward helped to move the team to within touching distance of the Champions League quarter-finals.
Son volleyed Spurs into a 47th-minute lead against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley in the first leg of the last-16 tie before late goals from the stop-gap left wing-back, Jan Vertonghen, and the substitute Fernando Llorente sealed a memorable 3-0 win.
Son has now scored 16 goals in all competitions – he has 11 in his last 12 matches – and, whenever he has found the net this season, Spurs have won. “Next time when Son scores, I go to the dressing-room, shower and wait for the game [to end],” Pochettino said with a smile. “Sonny was fantastic again. He translates good energy and his performance in every game is improving.”
If Son was excellent, Vertonghen was even better. After a tough first-half, the Belgian laid on Son’s goal with a precision cross before banging home a volley of his own. Pochettino had sprung a tactical surprise by naming Jan Foyth as part of a back three – with Vertonghen wide left – and following a few half-time tweaks his team thrilled most of the 71,214 in attendance with their second-half showing.