Real Madrid CF set up a mouth-watering UEFA Champions League semi-final against their great rivals FC Barcelona after Cristiano Ronaldo's second-half goal completed a comprehensive aggregate defeat of Tottenham Hotspur FC.
Ronaldo's speculative 50th-minute effort, fumbled into his own net by Heurelho Gomes, ended any faint hopes of a Tottenham comeback and confirmed Madrid's progression to a record 22nd semi-final in the competition – although their first since 2003 – the only blemish on their impressive evening's work the yellow card for Ricardo Carvalho that rules him out of the first leg against Barcelona.
Tottenham may have tried to deliver on their manager Harry Redknapp's pledge that "nothing is impossible" but for the competition debutants this was a bridge too far against José Mourinho's side, whose defensive discipline was underlined by an eighth clean sheet in ten matches.
Only three times in UEFA club competition had a team overturned a four-goal deficit and, despite the noisy exhortations of the home crowd, Tottenham never looked like producing a victory to eclipse their successes against the two Milan clubs earlier in the tournament.
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