Champions League debutants Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the knockout round when they convincingly beat injury-ravaged Werder Bremen 3-0 in Group A at White Hart Lane on Wednesday.
Goals from Younes Kaboul and Luka Modric gave the Londoners a 2-0 cushion at halftime and although Gareth Bale missed a second-half penalty, Peter Crouch added a third after 79 minutes as Spurs reached the last 16 with a match to spare while Bremen were eliminated.
Kaboul, Tottenham's match-winning hero when he scored the late decisive goal in their 3-2 victory at Arsenal on Saturday, was back on the scoresheet after only six minutes when he volleyed in an Aaron Lennon cross from close range.
Modric added the second on the stroke of halftime when Crouch nodded Alan Hutton's cross down to the midfielder who cut inside Sebastian Prodl before scoring. Crouch made the game safe, cracking home a Lennon layback from six yards out.
"It's our first experience in the Champions League ... It's a great achievement. Obviously we don't want to rest on that, we want to go on and give a good account of ourselves in the next round," Crouch told Sky Sports television.
"They came to defend and so I think the early goal was very important for us. It was comfortable from then on."
Bremen arrived at White Hart Lane having lost five of their last six matches in all competitions and having conceded 10 goals in their last two away games.
Manager Tomas Schaaf had nine players out injured, while a 10th, midfielder Torsten Frings, was suspended.
He named seven reserves in his squad, and two of them, defender Dominik Schmidt and attacking midfielder Felix Kroos, the brother of Bayern Munich's Toni, were making their first team debuts.
In contrast, Spurs had won all three of their Champions League home games this season including the playoff against Young Boys, scoring 11 goals along the way and should have added to their tally after 54 minutes.
However Bale, who hit the top of the crossbar with a free kick minutes earlier, became the third Spurs player to miss a penalty in the Champions League this season when Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese smothered his spot kick.
When these teams met in the opening group match in September, Spurs raced into a 2-0 lead, before Bremen fought back to draw 2-2 but there was little sign of that happening on Wednesday.
Bremen's diminutive creative midfielder Marko Marin strove endlessly forward for his side but with little real impact as, for once, Spurs won a match they were expected to win without their any of their usual dramas.