Spurs seal qualification in style

Tottenham 3 Werder Bremen 0:Tottenham booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with an almost effortless destruction of Werder Bremen at White Hart Lane.

Younes Kaboul followed up his derby winner by putting Spurs ahead with a sixth-minute volley before Luka Modric doubled the advantage in first-half stoppage time.

Gareth Bale missed a second-half penalty and rattled the woodwork twice before Peter Crouch rounded off proceedings with a close-range tap-in with 11 minutes left.

Bale, who was instrumental in the 3-1 demolition of Inter Milan three weeks ago, gave the crowd a glimpse of his pace by beating Clemens Fritz as Spurs took control of the game from the whistle.

It took just over five minutes for the hosts to break the deadlock when Alan Hutton found Aaron Lennon in space on the right flank.

The England winger delivered an inch-perfect cross to on-rushing Kaboul, who volleyed past Tim Wiese from eight yards for his second goal in five days.

Marko Marin provided the home side with a reminder of the threat he posed by skipping past three defenders before being stopped in his tracks by Kaboul on the edge of the Spurs box.

Jermaine Jenas pulled up in the 17th minute clutching his left leg and was replaced by Wilson Palacios.

Aaron Hunt fired a 35-yard shot a few yards wide of Heurelho Gomes’s goal with 20 minutes gone before Spurs hit straight back on the counter through Bale.

The Welshman crossed to find Crouch whose mis-directed volley fell to Roman Pavlyuchenko but he flashed a volley wide from eight yards.

Harry Redknapp’s team gifted Bremen a good chance just after the half-hour when Lennon’s clearance fell to Marin, who put his shot three yards wide of the home goal.

Lennon then used his pace to skip past Sebastian Prodl before picking out Pavlyuchenko in the box but he dithered on the ball to allow Per Mertesacker to block the Russian’s shot.

Fritz’s frustration boiled over five minutes before the break when he entered the book for pulling back Bale after being beaten by the winger once more.

Marin continued to pose a threat for the visitors on the break but any doubts about Spurs going in ahead at half-time were laid to rest in stoppage time when Luka Modric fired home from eight yards after Crouch’s knock-down from Hutton’s cross.

Prodl was booked four minutes into the second period when he pole-axed Lennon as he threatened the Bremen box.

Bale whipped the resulting free-kick over the wall only to see the ball crash back off the crossbar with Wiese rooted to the spot.

Bale then beat Fritz to the byline to whip a ball to Crouch, who saw his six-yard header cleared off the line.

Bremen youngster Felix Kroos’s debut took a turn for the worse in the 53rd minute when he brought Modric down in the box with his outstretched leg and referee Olegario Benquerenca pointed to the spot.

Bale, looking for his 10th Spurs goal of the season, drilled the penalty too close to Wiese, who saved to his right before Prodl beat the winger to the rebound to clear.

Jermain Defoe, who made his return from a two-month layoff at the weekend, came on for Pavlyuchenko with just over half an hour remaining.

Palacios, often overlooked by Redknapp this season, was doing his best to make an impression by putting in a series of crunching tackles as Tottenham dominated the midfield

Defoe, meanwhile, looked lively and drew block out of Wiese after firing on goal from 25 yards.

William Gallas had to use all his strength to stop Marin from unleashing a shot on goal during a rare Bremen attack 20 minutes from the end.

Bale almost made amends for his penalty miss when he glided down the left to pick up Defoe’s pass before sending a low drive inches past Wiese’s left-hand post.

Bale rattled the woodwork for the second time when his cross looped over Wiese and clipped the top of the bar. The ball fell to Lennon, who skinned Dominik Schmidt to find Crouch in the box and he made it 3-0 with a six-yard tap in.

Kranjcar curled a 25-yard free-kick onto the roof of the net in stoppage time before the home fans greeted the final whistle with warm applause knowing that they had made it through to the knockout stages with one game to spare in their maiden season in the competition.