Tottenham Hotspur salvaged some pride from their Champions League exit after recording a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Randal Kolo Muani gave the north London club the lead in the first-half before Julian Alvarez equalised straight after half-time. Spurs retook the lead through Xavi Simons' fine strike from outside the box, before David Hancko equalised again. However, Xavi scored a second from the penalty spot in the 90th minute to hand Igor Tudor his first win in charge of the club.
But while Xavi will take the headlines for his brace in the victory, there was another Spurs star who shone and has surely now made himself undroppable as they face a relegation battle.
Archie Gray Outstanding for Tottenham
Tudor opted for a back five to start the game, despite trailing 5-2 from the first leg, with a midfield duo of Pape Matar Sarr and Archie Gray ahead of them.
Despite his age, Gray proved to be the senior pro in that role as he competed physically, tactically and technically with everyone on the pitch, and stood out as the star performer for the night.
According to Sofascore, Gray completed 38 of 43 pass attempts, registered an assist for Simons' first goal, completed two of his three dribble attempts, and bossed the midfield, earning a 9/10 rating on the night.
While the performance couldn't stop the team from avoiding elimination in the Champions League, Tudor must learn from this performance and realise that Gray now simply must be involved in midfield every week.
Spurs are currently just one point above the relegation zone in the Premier League, and face a huge clash with Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon, where a defeat would see them drop into the bottom three with just seven games remaining of the campaign.
Gray is Simply Undroppable
Gray has proven to be wise beyond his years in football, having showed his versatility by playing at right-back, left-back, centre-back, wing-back and midfield since arriving from Leeds as a teenager last summer.
But his performance against Atletico, who are notoriously difficult to play against and tough in midfield, showed that his best position is in the middle of the park where he can do a bit of everything.
Spurs have got a huge eight games remaining in their season, and if Tudor is to complete his task of keeping the team in the Premier League, then Gray's performances will be key to that. He must start every game while he's available.