Tottenham Hotspur have been eliminated from the Europa League after slipping to a 2-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund at White Hart Lane.
Spurs went into the game requiring at least three goals to remain in the competition, but they were aware that they could not afford to concede or else the tie would effectively be over.
That scenario resulted in a lacklustre start, with neither side offering anything in the final third until Eric Dier glanced a header into the side-netting at the near post after 23 minutes.
However, a minute later, Dortmund scored to end the tie as a contest. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang picked up the ball around 25 yards out before unleashing a shot that swerved its way into the far corner of Hugo Lloris's net.
Spurs were left deflated and they struggled for a response until Son Heung-min dragged a shot wide from 20 yards just before half time.
Chances were few and far between after the restart too, with only Aubameyang wasting a chance inside the penalty area as he sliced the ball high into the stands from 10 yards out.
However, with 20 minutes remaining, he scored his second after being played in by Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with the forward powering the ball past Lloris who got a hand to it before it went into the net.
Spurs got a consolation goal four minutes later through Son, who latched on to a weak back-pass from Neven Subotic before rounding the goalkeeper and sliding the ball into an empty net.
The final 15 minutes were played out without either team making too much of an effort to change the scoreline, and Dortmund were able to ease through to the last eight of the competition.
Darren Plant
