Steffen Freund: “I can’t wait for COVID to disappear and to come back to Spurs"

Steffen Freund is a Spurs legend, and Spurs fan. And he knows he’s been gone too long.

The popular German midfielder was a proud member of the Spurs Legends squad for our second test event at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against Inter Forever back in March, 2019.

A busy man back in Germany, where he’s a co-commentator and pundit for RTL, Nitro, the DFL (Bundesliga) and DFB (German FA), Steffen has yet to return for a first team fixture and experience the atmosphere generated by over 62,000 fans in our world-class arena.

Steffen’s will to win immediately won the fans over back in 1999, when he joined us from Borussia Dortmund, having been part of Dortmund’s Champions League triumph in 1997 and Germany’s victory in England in Euro 96.

He was key in attritional semi-final and final wins against Wimbledon and Leicester as we lifted the League Cup in his first few months at the Club, and it’s likely he would have played in another final in 2002, but picked up a serious knee injury in the semi-final win against Chelsea in January, 2002. He recovered but departed at the end of the 2002/03 campaign, with 131 appearances under his belt. Later Germany Under-16 and Under-17 coach, Steffen was part of our coaching team between 2012-14 before returning home and successfully turning to television work.

Speaking to us this week to give us insight into new Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel ahead of Thursday night’s Premier League clash against the Blues, Steffen said: “I can’t wait for Coronavirus to disappear, to come back to Spurs and to come back with fans in the stadium.

“I played against Inter Forever and that was such a special day, but I haven’t been back. I haven’t watched a ‘proper’ game in the stadium, with all the fans in there. I can’t wait for that day, and to maybe watch the team winning a fantastic derby against Arsenal! That would be nice! But any game would do, and the sooner the better.

“Coronavirus... it’s the worst thing to happen to football. You play these amazing games, and yet no-one is there. It’s so sad. I will be in the stadium in two weeks when Schalke play Borussia Dortmund, I’ll be the co-commentator for the DFL, but no fans.

“I was also there when Bayern Munich lost against Holstein Kiel in the German Cup. It was a miracle result, and no-one was there! Then you realise it’s just not the same. I try my best through my commentary to take the game into the living rooms of the fans. That’s our job. We all love the game, and we have to try to give something back to the supporters at home.”

Look out for Steffen’s views on Tuchel in our Preview Panel, alongside Clive Allen, tomorrow...