Captain Luca on Under-17 cup final: “It can fuel you”

Youth team captain Luca Gunter sees Wednesday’s Under-17 Premier League Cup final as “an opportunity to show what we’re about.”

In the first of two League Cup finals for Stuart Lewis’ side this season – we’ve also reached the Under-18 instalment, where we’ll face Aston Villa in May – we head to the City Ground to take on Nottingham Forest Under-17s in a winners-take-all clash, which will be televised live on SPURSPLAY (kick-off 7pm UK).

Finalists in this competition last season as well, where we came up short against Manchester City, there’s a real sense of purpose among our youngsters as we bid to go one better this time and lift the trophy.

Skipper of our Under-18 squad this season – it’s largely been the same group of players featuring in both the Under-17 and Under-18 League Cup competitions – goalkeeper Luca has underlined how there’s a positive mindset reverberating around the team in anticipation of what’s to come on Wednesday night.

“It’s a really, really big game that everyone wants to play in,” said the keeper, who has been virtually ever-present for the Under-18s this term, missing only two games in all competitions – and that was only because he was involved instead with the Under-21s.

“People are really competing for places to get into the team because it’s such a big game, we’ve been building up momentum and we’re looking forward to pushing on into the final and trying to lift the trophy. Every game is an opportunity to show what we’re about – it’s a massive game on Wednesday, especially playing at the City Ground. Playing in a first team stadium is really good, it's obviously going to be more difficult with it being their home ground, but we’re ready for it. We’re hoping we can get as much support as we can from Spurs fans, whether it’s watching online on SPURSPLAY or even coming to the City Ground – we really appreciate the support and hopefully the fans can see us lift the trophy.”

We asked Luca to sum up what the squad aims to offer for any supporters who may not be familiar with their talents: “I’d say we bring a lot of energy,” he said. “You’ll see players who have passion and want to win – we have a good style of play, a lot of players are confident on the ball, get out of tight spaces, we look to play good football and create a lot of chances. Hopefully we’ll be entertaining to watch but the one thing we can guarantee is that we’re going to give it our all.”

Luca also underlined how the players found extra motivation and drive from a rare slip-up at the very start of this cup run: “Our first game in this competition, we actually lost 1-0 to Colchester which obviously wasn’t the best start but the way the boys have reacted to that and the way we’ve been as a group in response to that loss has kind of pushed us to get to the final,” he explained. “Since that game, we haven’t lost a match in this competition and we’ve gone on to beat Aston Villa in the quarter-finals and Chelsea on penalties in the semis, so it’s been great. Especially with the Club losing in the final last year as well, it can fuel you, you want that redemption, you want to come back and win a trophy and prove that you’re not just second best, and that definitely goes for all the boys – we want to win and prove that we can win.”