Thu 10 December 2020, 23:05
Tottenham HotspurJose Mourinho sensed it was a matter of time before we broke Royal Antwerp’s resistance on our way to victory and finishing top of UEFA Europa League Group J.
We dominated from start to finish - 21 attempts to two tells the story - but it took until the 57th minute to forge ahead when Carlos Vinicius tapped home the rebound from a Gareth Bale free-kick special from 35 yards. Giovani Lo Celso saw us home on 71 minutes, a sublime finish via another assist from Harry Kane.
Having topped the group, we will now go into Monday’s draw (12noon UK) for the Round of 32 as one of the seeded teams.
The way we were controlling them and the way we pushed them, they were always far from our area, so the second goal was game over
Jose said: “They are a difficult side, they press, they mark, they chase, lots of one against ones all over the pitch, great intensity and one thing we did amazingly well was to press them high and keep them away from our defensive area. I don’t think Joe Hart made a save, and that’s what we did better.
“In the first half the quality of our football was not bad, but a bit slow, but from the beginning of the second half, not just after the changes, we were more intense, the ball was running faster, the players had more movement and it was then a question of time to score the first goal and win the game."
Gio capped a fine display with the second goal, Jose captured punching the air in celebration by the TV cameras on the touchline.
“It was game over,” he said. “Sometimes, 2-0 isn’t game over, when you feel that the opponent is dangerous, but the way we were controlling them and the way we pushed them, they were always far from our area, so the second goal was game over.”
