To play against Luka Modric was special: Harry Winks

Bengaluru, October 19: A brilliant Tottenham Hotspur put up a dazzling show at Bernabeu this midweek in their Champions League fixture against Real Madrid where the game ended deservingly 1-1. Both the teams were equal in their attacking dynamism and the game ended fairly with a point shared.

However, the travelling Spurs were missing three major first-team players, Dele Alli, Wanyama and Davies for the tie, however, the London side put on a decent display and returned home with a valuable away point which took them top of the group of death.

If you’re going to single out players in this game, Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris was brilliant throughout the match and made some brilliant saves, however, another youngster was also excellent in this match and it was their academy youngster Harry Winks who was promoted to the starting XI.

The England international caught the eye with his assured performance on Tuesday (October 17), and he looked unmoved by going up against two of the world's best in his position, Modric and Toni Kroos.

Winks was just 12 years old, when Modric made his debut and after the match stated that competing against his idol was a dream come true for him and he still looks up to the Croatian to improve his game.

“Modric was always someone I looked up to when I was coming through the academy as a young player,” recalled Winks. “He is someone I would go to White Hart Lane to watch and I still admire him to this day. To play against him was special.

“He and Kroos are fantastic, world-class players, so when you go on the pitch with them, it is easy to get a little bit daunted. But I tried to take all that away from it, treat it as any normal game and approach them as I would any other player. You realise just how good they are when you play against them.”

In Mauricio Pochettino's three-and-a-half years incharge at Spurs, this is one of their best possible result in Champions league as they top Group H for the time being, having beaten Borussia Dortmund and APOEL this year.

And the young versatile midfielder Winks suggested the team is hopeful about their prospects in the competition this season more than ever.

“We believe in our ability,” he said. “Last year was a poor Champions League campaign and we were knocked out in the group stages but this season we are doing really well.

“We are going into games a little differently from how we might in the Premier League. We have to be a little more tactically resilient and play on the counter‑attack slightly more often but we were excellent against Real.

“We believe we are one of the best teams in the Premier League. So when you come to play at the Bernabeu, in such a hostile environment with a difficult crowd, it shows we can do just as well in all our Premier League games. We played very well to get a point.”