Aurier's ingenious 'confidence bordering on cockiness' defence

Serge Aurier produced a moment of brilliance as he starred on debut for Tottenham in the club's 3-1 Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund.

The Ivory Coast right back joined Spurs from Paris Saint-German before the transfer window closed two weeks ago.

Aurier was signed to replace Kyle Walker, who moved to Manchester City, and it appears Tottenham fans will not have much trouble falling in love with their new defender.

With his side leading 2-1 after half an hour, Aurier marking Dortmund's Christian Pulisic when a quick cross came in from the right after a throw-in.

Rather than risking a block and potential shot by Pulisic with a hoofed clearance, Aurier ducked to let the ball bounce over him, away from his opponent and into the clear space down his wing.

He had caught Pulisic well off guard and kicked off an attacking move for Tottenham.

"What an improvisation that was!" the commentator roared.

"That takes some doing. It may look simple but that was pre-planned by Serge Aurier, a real level of confidence bordering on cockiness."

Dortmund dominated possession for large parts of the game, but Tottenham showed a ruthlessness in front of goal to see off the Germans.

Harry Kane was once again in irrepressible form, scoring twice and setting up Son Heung-min for an early opener.

Andriy Yarmolenko scored a wonderful goal for Dortmund, who will feel hard done by after having two goals incorrectly ruled out for offside.

Tottenham travel to Cyprus in two weeks to play APOEL, and manager Mauricio Pochettino is confident the performance against Dortmund will stand them in good stead for the rest of their campaign.

"It was so important to win, we are so happy," he told BT Sport.

"It was so important to start well in a tough game. Dortmund played really well, they dominated the first half. We increased our level in the second half and we were very clinical in front of goal.

"It is more than three points. At half-time we fixed some problems and modified the position of some players. The tempo of the game decreased which was better for us. Dortmund are a very aggressive team, we struggled a little to pass the ball quickly.

"Sometimes you can't dominate, you have to play a different way and the team is more mature now. We can learn a lot from this game."

with Omnisport