An entirely dominant and professional display for Tottenham sees them travel back to London with their first away victory since May in all competitions, and the first of the 18/19 season.
Goals from Lo Celso, Eriksen and Heung Min Son silence the Belgrade fans, in a stunning victory which is unusual to the Serbian's as this is the first of 72 European games in which Red Star have conceded more than 1 at home.
To the delight of all Spurs fans, Christian Eriksen was finally dropped from the starting XI after dismal performances in the premier league, allowing room for Lo Celso to push through. Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez were also placed together for a new CB partnership which seemed to work well today, giving rest to both Alderweireld and Vertonghen. Juan Foyth was also handed a start at right back and put in a encouraging performance.
What came like a Fifa goal was Lo Celso's first goal for Tottenham Hotspur. Harry Kane's shot tapped the post, Son takes the ball but his shot was cleared on the line before Kane volleyed it back into Sonny who smashes it into the crossbar until Lo Celso takes a classy touch before rocketing it into the top of the net. It took a while but it will be a debut goal hard to forget for the Argentinian craftsman.
The rest of the half was all Tottenham and they went back into the dressing room seemingly confident.
The restart should've gifted Red Star an equaliser as Ndombele loses the ball to Marin of Red Star, causing a 2 on 2 situation. The return pass however of a one-two with Pavkov is disappointing and the attack fails, leaving Marin infuriated.
The attack though seemed to awaken a quiet Red Star team who have invited a spurs press. This confidence however gave Spurs more space in conducting attacks going forward and it wasn't long before the score was doubled.
Tanguy Ndombele drove excellently through the heart of Red Star, leaving the opposition behind and drawing out a defender. He smartly feeds Alli who continues the ball on to Heung Min Son, and with usual confidence smashes an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. A great goal, which came from the encouraging run of Ndombele, who is quickly becoming a fan favourite of Tottenham fans.
The goal was also highly valuable for Heung Min Son who has reportedly been offered psychological support after the horrific injury of Andre Gomes.
After the game the player addressed how he has been over the past few days since the events at Goodison Park:
"It has been a really tough few days but with my team-mates, friends and supporters I realised how lucky I am with messages of support. I am of course really sorry about the accident. I now have to focus on the team."
Tottenham Hotspur reinforced their dominance once again through Heung Min Son minutes later. Harry Kane dropped back to slot an absolutely mouth watering ball to an overlapping Danny Rose who then crossed it swiftly into Sonny, who just has to tap the ball into the back of the net. An unusual sight seeing Tottenham running riot away from home...
The home crowd silenced and the echos of Glory, Glory rang round the famous Belgrade stadium.
Eriksen also got involved in the action after Ryan Sessegnon picked up the ball on the far left. The new signing pulled it back for the Dane and made no mistake in his attempt on goal to put the Spurs 4-0 up. More like it Eriksen. Great from the substitutes though as the goal came from 2 players who didn't start the tie.
An overall very pleasing performance from the players tonight before they invite Sheffield into White hart lane.
Pochettino was also full of praise after the game:
"It is good, we are happy with the performance of the team. Our approach was fantastic. We controlled the game, and we were better. This game will help us stay together, and now we need to keep going. We need three points more to qualify, but it’s a good feeling after Everton.”
The victory tonight was also the largest home defeat Red Star have ever seen in their European cup history, emphasising the professionalism of the team tonight, who seemed unfazed by the noisy crowd.
The lineup today was also a lot different to that normally put out by Pochettino, and the result says it all. Pochettino does not need to change it for the next game, in which he has normally been doing. To what may be surprising to some, Pochettino has not named the same Spurs team in consecutive matches for 93 games. This stat needs to end, the instability of the team and changing of players hasn't allowed a squad to glue together properly.
Tottenham in the champions league do normally get onto the scoresheet and have now scored in their past 13 UCL away games. Only west London rivals Chelsea can match this run in the competition. This highlights clearly how the issues recently haven't been with the goalscoring side in games, but rather the defensive issues that have arisen recently. Losing a 2 goal lead to Arsenal and Olympiacos whilst also losing miserably to Bayern Munich, Newcastle, Colchester, Brighton and Leicester, it has become no surprise in games now that Tottenham's weaknesses at the back are being heavily exploited by teams.
However, tonight's clean sheet is nothing to dismiss, and Pochettino should be looking to field a similar if not same team against Sheffield in 3 days time to end the winless run in the premier league, after dropping points to Everton, Liverpool, Watford and Brighton in the previous 4.