Soccer:Tottenham captain Michael Dawson admitted Peter Crouch's sending-off made a tough task so much harder as his side were hammered 4-0 by Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
The striker was sent off in the 15th minute of the Champions League quarter-final first leg for two bookings when Spurs were 1-0 down and Madrid took full advantage of their numerical superiority.
"We go away disappointed, we've got to pick ourselves up because we've got to put in a performance next week," Dawson said on Sky Sports Two. "After going down to 10 men early on it was so difficult."
Tottenham, who conceded an early Emmanuel Adebayor goal, managed to keep the scoreline to 1-0 by half-time, but Madrid ran away with the match it the second half.
“We defended well after giving the early goal away, we got blocks in,” added Dawson. “To give another goal away was disappointing and then they scored two top-class goals.
“The White Hart Lane faithful will be there next Wednesday and we’ve got to go out and give it our all.”
Xabi Alonso insisted the tie was not over.
“Not even close,” the former Liverpool player said. “We have seen so many great comebacks. Hopefully this won’t be the case, but we have to be ready.”
The Spain international added: “We needed to be patient, we knew the chances would come. As soon as we scored the second one they were a little bit down.
“The result is fantastic but the tie is not won yet.”
