Ange on Bentancur: "He told me, 'I need to play, I need to help'"

Ange Postecoglou gave an insight into the mentality of Rodrigo Bentancur after another fine display was capped by a goal in Sunday's 2-2 draw against Manchester United.

Returning ahead of schedule from a second injury setback in a year against Bournemouth on New Year's Day, Ange handed 'Lolo' the captain's armband in the absence of Heung-Min Son, Cuti Romero and James Maddison for our FA Cup win against Burnley last week and his journey back now features a belting finish for his first goal of the campaign as we came from behind twice at Old Trafford.

🎙️ “He's such a sensational footballer, it's great to have him back in the team and scoring.”

Praise for Rodrigo Bentancur as we analyse our performance at Old Trafford on The Review Show ⤵️

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 15, 2024

The dominant force in the central areas as we dictated play for long periods, Rodrigo ghosted onto debutant Timo Werner's pass to beat Jonny Evans in a tight space and drill his effort past Andre Onana.

That made it 2-2 a minute into the second half and that's how it stayed after United had twice led through Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford, with Richarlison heading home our first equaliser.

Asked in his post-match press conference about Rodrigo's performance after fighting back again from injury, Ange said: "Yeah, outstanding. He's one, with the initial diagnosis, he should still be out, from what we looked at as a recovery time.

"He came to me a couple of weeks ago and said, 'look, I want to help, I need to play, I need to help these guys'. He could see we were going through a rough time. It is a testament to his character. He is an outstanding person.

"Part of the reason I made him skipper in the last game was just to reward him for the person he is more than anything else, and again he was outstanding today, when we needed to get on the ball and show some composure, he was outstanding and again he's nowhere near the fitness levels or the level he wants to be, but he will get there, I know he'll get there, and when he does he'll be a fantastic asset for us to have in the team."