Tottenham vs Borussia Dortmund: Spurs ‘mean business’ in Champions League, warns Harry Winks

Harry Winks says that Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund showed they “mean business” in Europe, as he reflected on what was “one of the greatest results” he’s enjoyed at the club.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side offered a highly polished display to pick off the Bundesliga leaders in their Champions League last-16 tie at Wembley. Winks added that was the consequence of learning over time how to play in Europe. The midfielder revealed Pochettino has had them watch past defeats and eliminations to pick out where they went wrong.

“We hope it's a statement to show that we are up they and we mean business and that we want to do well and go as far as we can in the Champions League. There is no better way of doing that than beating Dortmund 3-0 at home.

“It is up there with one of the greatest results I have had in a Spurs shirt, the magnitude of the game was higher and it was a big and important game so to get the result was fantastic for us and I am incredibly proud and delighted to be playing for team.

“We have been in the Champions League for the last couple of years so we are starting to learn what teams are like, any small mistake gets punished. We have to be on it from minute one to full-time so we have learned a lot, we have taken a lot on board. We have watched games back in the past of where we have lost and we have tried to take it on board.”

The result meant all the more to Winks as a supporter of the club, as much as a player, given how he’d attended the club’s Champions League games in the past.

“I have been in the stands and watch Spurs play in the Champions League many years ago, so to play and get the win and to do as well as we did makes it that little bit more special?

“There was Real Madrid [in 2010-11], I was flag-bearer and Inter Milan at home at White Hart Lane. I watched the rest on telly. It is special playing for Tottenham in the Champions League.”

Winks was cautious of talking about how far Spurs could go as he insisted this tie was not done yet. He also pointed to how, for all the quality of the performance, they still needed a fine Hugo Lloris save to get them through before Son Heung-Min, Jan Vertonghen and Fernando Llorente scored.

“It was a match-winning save. He was fantastic again for us tonight, the front players will get the credit as rightly they deserve to, but the people at the back, especially Hugo with his save, should get a massive mention and a lot of credit as well because if it wasn't for that save it was a different game and we go in at half-time 1-0, so massive credit to him.

“We have to take it game by game, we have got to win the second leg first before we can even look at how far we can go. But it's a great night, a great result going into the second leg and hopefully we can progress, who knows we can go.

“You can never say [it’s done]. Teams like Dortmund, they showed their quality. Even though we have got a 3-0 lead we can't go into the game with any other mindset than we did today.”

Jan Vertonghen, meanwhile, said the victory showed his side can no longer be considered Champions League “underdogs”.

“I think everyone playing in the Champions League now, they look at each other and see how strong teams are. Results like [this] doesn't help us to be the underdog," he said. "We are very pleased with the result, and are in a great position for the away game, now?

“We have to focus on ourselves but, yeah, 3-0 in a home tie in the Champions League in the first leg is a big, big result, against at this moment the best German side. We're very pleased.”