Wed 19 January 2022, 23:57
Tottenham HotspurWith time running out and us trailing 2-1, Antonio Conte felt even a draw wouldn’t have been a fair reflection of our performance against Leicester City at the KP Stadium on Wednesday evening. Then Steven Bergwijn turned the game on its head in our favour.
Stevie stepped off the bench on 79 minutes, just after we’d conceded to go 2-1 down in a game we’d dominated. In the fifth minute of added time, the flying Dutchman levelled from close range. Moments later, he sparked incredible celebrations by racing onto Harry Kane’s pass, skipping around Kasper Schmeichel and rolling the ball home off the post. Scenes, absolute scenes!
Earlier, Patson Daka fired the Foxes in front after Kane had struck the bar and had an effort cleared off the line. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg also had one cleared off the line before Kane levelled, a superb finish from Harry Winks’ pass.
We’d racked up over 20 efforts at goal without further reward when James Maddison restored Leicester’s lead on 76 minutes. That was tough to take, and so would anything less than maximum points have been. Thankfully, Stevie’s wonder show was on the way...
“Honestly, to lose this game… I couldn’t accept to lose this game after the chances we created, for the game we played,” reflected Antonio at the KP. “At the end, we must be very happy, because the players know our philosophy, don’t give up, never.
“Until the end, we have to fight. We have to try to get the best possible result. Tonight, to fight until the end wasn’t easy, but we must be very happy. Next time when we create so many chances, we have to score, we have to score and not suffer in the way we did tonight.”
You must have belief, belief in the team, in the possibility that in only two minutes, you can score another goal.
Bergwijn levelled on 94 minutes and 52 seconds but, even then, the attitude was clear – no celebrations, Kane grabbed the ball from Schmeichel and raced back to the centre-circle. Sure enough, Hojbjerg intercepted Youri Tielemans’ pass and found Kane, he released Bergwijn and Stevie did the rest.
What was Antonio thinking as he raced through? “First of all, I’m happy for the team. I’m happy because, maybe, I made a good substitution! I’m happy for Steven, he deserves these goals.
“You must have belief, belief in the team, in the possibility that in only two minutes, you can score another goal. As I said before, to lose this game, even to draw, it wasn’t right.
“At the end, we won the game, and we deserved to win this game. Until the end, you have to be concentrated, to be focussed and not to give up, be ready to fight until the end. This must be our philosophy, then, if the opponent deserves to win, we are the first to clap then. Otherwise, until the end, we have to fight.
“It's a big win, for sure. Also, we’ve beaten a team that last season finished in front of us, last season they won the FA Cup and then the Community Shield. It means they are an important team. The manager is doing a fantastic job with Leicester.
“To win against them was important for us, to improve our confidence, our belief and, then, we know the path is long, but we’ve just started this path and we want to finish it in the best possible way.”
