Harry Kane’s reaction said it all. It was a mixture of disbelief and deep regret. There were 71 minutes on the clock and, suddenly, Tottenham Hotspur’s main man was in. The pass from Fernando Llorente was made to measure and, when Kane shot, all eyes followed the ball to the bottom corner of the Real Madrid net.

It squirmed agonisingly wide, Keylor Navas having got his fingertips to it and everyone seemed to take a moment to let it all sink in. Kane, who had been the pre-match story because of his explosive form and Real’s interest in him, might have made quite the statement.

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As it was, Tottenham still made one. Mauricio Pochettino knew this match would be a gauge of the club’s progress. “When you come here, you feel the reality about football,” he said on Monday.

The reality was pretty sweet. Real showed their quality and there were periods when Tottenham had to dig in. Pochettino’s 3-5-2 formation was more like 5-3-2 and Real were fluent. They hogged 61% of the possession.

Tottenham were grateful that Karim Benzema had an evening when his dead-eyed instincts deserted him while Hugo Lloris bailed them out on a couple of occasions. His second-half saves to keep out Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo were the latest illustration of his world-class ability. He was the Tottenham hero.

Yet it said plenty about the maturity of the visitors’ performance that they closed out the draw with a measure of comfort and, when it was all over, the 4,000 travelling fans celebrated wildly. They sang their songs at full volume and the result from Nicosia, where Borussia Dortmund had managed only to draw with Apoel, furthered the feel-good factor.

Tottenham played with savvy and personality while they also carved Real open on a number of occasions. It would now be a tremendous disappointment if they failed to qualify and nobody could have predicted that with any certainty when the draw was made. Above all, as Pochettino said afterwards, Tottenham showed they belonged at this level.

Apart from his one-on-one miss Kane was good and he helped to provide Tottenham with their pinch-me moment. Gloriously from their point of view, they had grown into the tie and the breakthrough goal came at the end of a patch of deep purple.

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Raphael Varane will carry the can and it was the most unfortunate of deflections that sent Serge Aurier’s low cross looping past Navas but Kane had forced the error. The excellent Harry Winks released Aurier and, after Kane had tried and failed to execute a flick, Varane blundered.

The goal had been advertised. Kane worked Navas with a powerful downward header in the 19th minute from a Christian Eriksen corner and then there was the penalty controversy.

Kane turned away from two white shirts and switched on the power before crossing low for Llorente, whose surprise selection paid off handsomely.

Navas got down but Llorente got a second bite and that was when Casemiro chased in and took away his standing leg. Even Spanish radio said that it was a penalty. The referee, Szymon Marciniak, was unmoved.

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He would point to the spot just before half-time – at the other end – and it was one of those decisions that Aurier allowed the referee to make by going to ground inside the area. The contact with Toni Kroos was a long way from being excessive but it was enough for the Real midfielder to feel it and go down. Ronaldo sent Lloris the wrong way with his kick. Aurier argued that Kroos had fouled him in the build-up.

Real had started brightly. Ronaldo hit the post with a header and Benzema fluffed the rebound, with the far corner gaping, while Ronaldo fizzed inches wide of the far post. Isco would also test Lloris. At the other end Tottenham could point to a low blast from Aurier that extended Navas.

Real turned the screw at the start of the second half and only Benzema knows how he did not convert Casemiro’s cross from point-blank range. All alone, he planted his header down but Lloris, who was going the other way, stuck out a leg to save. It was a marvellous piece of improvisation but it also went down as a gilt-edged miss.

Ronaldo shimmered with menace and Lloris had to react brilliantly to tip over his snapshot. He had gone close moments earlier while, on 65 minutes, he outstripped three Tottenham players before working Lloris. The goalkeeper also scampered across his line to deny Isco.

Back came Tottenham and, after Kane’s miss, Llorente ushered in Eriksen only for Navas to save again. Pochettino and his team were left to wonder what might have been but this was a night when the glass was half-full.