Following an impressive draw at the Bernabeu in their last Champions League outing, Tottenham returned to their temporary home Wembley to face Los Blancos.
Both teams sat joint top of Group H on the seven points and the exact same goal difference - giving them the chance to clinch a place in the knockout stages with a victory.
However, it was Tottenham who once again impressed in front of a packed Wembley and now find themselves top of the group.
Dele back with a bang
Having served his three game suspension, Spurs' star Dele Alli returned to lead the Lilywhites to victory. Dele will admit himself that so far this season he has not delivered to the standards set in his previous two seasons at Spurs.
The 21-year-old could not have picked a more important game to return to his best. Dele claimed the first blow as he tapped in Kieran Trippier's superb cross and later doubled Tottenham's lead as he danced past the Real Madrid defence for his shot to be deflected in.
Not only were his goals crucial, but Alli played a huge part throughout the game transforming defence into attack. For Tottenham's third, Dele ran with the ball from his own half and finding Harry Kane who claimed the assist as Christian Eriksen slotted the ball home.
His performance certainly put to bed any doubt over the youngster's quality, having suffered from some bad press following a dive away to Huddersfield and an exchange of words with Ashley Young last weekend.
Solid at the back
On the attack, both teams looked dangerous. However, the difference was that Tottenham's defence looked more than capable of handling what Madrid had to offer.
With the main man Toby Alderweireld being forced into coming off with an injury, Eric Dier dropped deeper into the defence. Despite this, the Englishman did not look out of place whatsoever - showing just how versatile he is and what a huge asset he is to the team.
Overall the defence held tight, but also kept cool despite the occasion. Not scared to pass it around the back line Spurs showed that they weren't out to soak up the Madrid pressure. With Trippier and Ben Davies getting up and down the flanks - making the most of a narrow Madrid defence.
With arguably the world's greatest footballer spear-heading the visitor's attack. The Tottenham defence held strong until the 80th minute after a goal-mouth scramble led to a consolation goal for Madrid.
On the verge?
One thing that stands out over everything else is the belief that Mauricio Pochettino has instilled across this Tottenham squad. No name is bigger than the badge on the front and everyone is out to play for each other.
Pochettino's tactics once again proved without fault. With the fans singing his name loudly, his team showed a great pressing game as they did not give Madrid a minute to settle on the ball and were clinical on the break.
Even though he faced what could have been an injury crisis through the departure of Alderweireld, Tottenham did not crack under the pressure, they readjusted and minutes later opened the scoring.
Since his arrival in 2014 Pochettino has not brought in any silverware - however, performances like this suggest that trophies are not too far away for the Londoners.