Fri 19 February 2021, 13:40
Tottenham HotspurIt was written in the stars.
The winner of FIFA’s Puskas Award proudly stepped into the new Puskas Arena and delivered again... this time Heung-Min Son provided the platform for an impressive first half display and convincing 4-1 win against Wolfsberger AC in the first leg of our UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie.
Sonny picked up the Puskas Award back in December, the highest recognition for his wonderful solo effort against Burnley in the Premier League a year earlier, December, 2019.
That was a goal all-time great Ferenc Puskas - five-time La Liga champion, three-time European Cup winner with Real Madrid, 1958-66; 84 goals in 85 caps for Hungary, World Cup runner-up, 1954 - would have been proud of, and no doubt he would have been happy with Sonny’s opener against the Austrian side in his home city, a clever, stooping header to guide Gareth Bale’s cross into the corner on 13 minutes.
Sonny was well aware of the moment and told us later: “Obviously it’s a big honour, and to play in this stadium is a very special feeling because I won the award for last year, so, being here is special and we got the win, that’s most important.”
We put ourselves in pole position in the two-legged tie inside 35 minutes. Sonny’s opener was followed by a sweet strike from Gareth Bale for 2-0 and then a superb solo run and finish from Lucas Moura for 3-0.
Wolfsberger had threatened, however, and got a foot back in the game thanks to Michael Liendl’s penalty 10 minutes into the second half. Christopher Wernitznig then struck the crossbar in the hosts’ best spell, but we restored our three-goal cushion thanks to a sharp finish from Carlos Vinicius in the closing stages. The second leg follows on Wednesday (5pm).
The guys had a really good mindset, and we showed the right attitude
Sonny, now up to 21 European goals for us, said: “It was very important that we showed from minute one that we wanted to win not just 1-0 or 2-0. We showed a really good attitude from the start and to score three goals in the first half is always a special feeling. The guys had a really good mindset, and we showed the right attitude."
As for his combinations with Gareth, he added: “I have a really close relationship with him and I’m really happy he’s getting some game time, scoring and getting the assist. I really enjoyed playing with him, a big honour.”
