It was the third time a Tottenham player had been sent off in the Champions League, with Gomes and Rafael van der Vaart having seen red against Inter Milan and FC Twente respectively.

Within moments of his dismissal, social networking networking sites were awash with comments ridiculing Crouch – some of them from Spurs fans.

Gomes admits Crouch tackled like a “novice” in the match, but stressed that the squad and Spurs fans should not castigate a man who has scored seven times in Europe this year.

“In the second leg we need to be more careful. If you challenge like a novice at the start of the game, it is hard,” the goalkeeper said.

“We need to think about it (our discipline) because it is not the first time. At half-time, Peter said sorry to everyone but we do not blame him.

“It is not just his fault. He has been so important for us this season. We just need to move on now.”

Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice and Angel Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo also got on the scoresheet as Real looked to end what has been a remarkable season in the competition for the Londoners.

Gomes admits Tottenham have little chance of making the last four now, but he insists next Wednesday’s second leg at White Hart Lane is a good opportunity to go out of the competition with a bang.

“It is going to be difficult for us to turn it around but we have a chance,” the former PSV Eindhoven stopper said.

“When you have a chance you need to believe straight away and keep going but I think we are playing for pride.”

Gomes also called on his team-mates to arrest their worrying slump in form by beating Stoke in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.

He said: “We need to turn it up because we have to finish in the top four.

“After the weekend, we will think about Madrid but we need to turn up quickly because Stoke is a massive game for us.”