Pride and pain for Sonny

Heung-Min Son struggled for the words to describe his and the team’s disappointment after bowing out of the Champions League at the hands of Juventus on Wednesday night.

It was a night of absolute highs and lows for the South Korea star who fired us in front for the first time in the tie (1-0 on the night, 3-2 on aggregate) on 39 minutes only for the Italians to strike twice in three minutes in the second half to completely turn things around.

We gave every last drop to find a second goal but it wasn’t to be after a sequence of near misses, blocked shots and cleared crosses in the final 25 minutes, culminating in Harry Kane hitting the post in the final seconds. Juve held on to progress to the quarter-finals 4-3 on aggregate.

Such an effervescent character on and off the pitch, Sonny’s smile was replaced by sorrow as he departed Wembley.

His first reaction said it all. “It's sad and it hurts a lot,” he said. “It's quiet in the dressing room, quieter than normal.”

Reflecting on the game, he added: “From the start we played well, we created a lot of chances, we went 1-0 up - it was the perfect start.

“The performance was good but the two goals make the result different and that's the main thing. What else can I say? It’s football and we need to go again.”

Sonny pointed to last season’s UCL campaign, where we failed to make the knockout phase. “We are unluckily out of the Champions League but we’ve gained some experience,” he added.

“We remember last season when we went out in the group stage and now we've done well, we learn again and next season, we'll be better again.

“I'm very proud of the team, proud of the fans, proud of the performance - it's just one main thing, the result isn't perfect, but we can be proud.”