Tottenham 0 Real Madrid 1: Ronaldo adds the finishing gloss as Tottenham’s Euro campaign ends

Tottenham were unable to produce the required onslaught to overcome Real Madrid as they exited the Champions League with a quarter-final second leg defeat thanks to Heurelho Gomes’s second-half clanger.

Gomes has been a pillar of the club’s domestic and European campaigns this year, but his failure to hang on to Cristiano Ronaldo’s routine 30-yard drive ensured that any chance Spurs had of coming back from the four-goal deficit they accrued in the Bernabeu was over in the 50th minute.

Spurs threw everything they had at their highly-decorated opponents in the first half and had two convincing penalty appeals turned down.

Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Roman Pavlyuchenko all excelled, but their efforts were not enough to give Spurs fans one more memorable night to add to their collection this year and Madrid and Jose Mourinho will now get the chance to prove they are Europe’s best as they take on Barcelona in the last four.

The defeat brought to an end a dream debut season in the Champions League in which Tottenham have won the hearts of many a neutral thanks to the enterprising football which had seen them tear apart Inter Milan and brush past their neighbours AC Milan to make the last eight.

Tottenham’s Gareth Bale said: “It’s hard to take. We knew it was going to be difficult but we’ve had a great run and are proud. We lost to a better team.

“Sometimes (the penalty decisions) go for you, sometimes they don’t but overall we probably lost to the better team over the two legs. I don’t think anyone expected us to get this far and it’s been great for me on a personal level.”

Schalke set up a Champions League semi-final encounter with Manchester United after beating Inter Milan for the second time in a week last night.

Following last Tuesday’s emphatic 5-2 victory in Italy, it was the talismanic Raul and defender Benedikt Howedes who scored the goals in a 2-1 win.