Fernando relishing his 'big challenge'

Fernando Llorente has played in successful teams all over Europe and won the World Cup, but he believes standing in for Harry Kane is right up there among the biggest challenges he’s faced.

Our Spanish striker was selected to lead the line for the second game in a row on Thursday night and came up with a second-half goal to take our Carabao Cup semi-final with Chelsea to the lottery of a penalty shootout, where we unfortunately came up short.

Having made his first Premier League start of the season in last weekend’s 2-1 win at Fulham, the 33-year-old is maintaining a positive outlook in spite of the setback at Stamford Bridge and says he’s determined to help make up for some of the firepower we’re missing because of top scorer Harry’s ankle injury.

“Yes, for sure, it’s a big challenge because when you are not playing too much it’s more difficult than when you play every game,” replied Fernando when asked whether he thinks stepping up to spearhead the attack in Harry’s absence represents one of the toughest tests of his career to date.

“I feel like now I have to score goals. It’s a big responsibility because Harry, Dele and Sonny (Heung-Min Son) are not with the team now but I think every game I am playing is very good for me because, with the ball, my confidence will be up.

“When you play more games, more minutes, you have greater confidence and I think I am ready to help the team and to fight for every ball in every game that I have the possibility to play.

“For me, my goal (at Chelsea) was really important because I am a different player after a goal. With confidence I am very strong. I had to work for it – in the first half I had to be more confident and give help to the team to go up the field but it was difficult because they pressed a lot. I am still very, very proud of all the team because we fought really well and now we have to continue because we have another game on Sunday and we have to think only about that game and try to stay longer in the FA Cup.”

Chelsea got the better of us on penalties at Stamford Bridge, but Fernando believes experiencing the pain of being on the losing end in that scenario could end up benefitting us in other competitions, with knockout matches against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on the horizon.

“Obviously we are disappointed to lose but going forward, I am really positive,” he explained. “We need games like this to improve because maybe in the future, in the next games, we will have a similar situation, maybe in the Champions League or another important game in the FA Cup.

“I think today is important to analyse the game and learn about what’s happened. We can be more experienced now.”