'You get caught up in the emotion' - Michael Dawson

Like most Spurs fans, Michael Dawson was sat behind a TV watching Christian Eriksen step up for his equalising free-kick against Juventus in the first leg of our Champions League Round of 16 tie last month. Unlike most Spurs fans, ‘Daws’ was providing live match analysis for Sky Sports. His reaction had the worldwide Spurs family smiling...

“22 yards out, Christian Eriksen steps up...yes, ha ha...

“I told you only one person was going to hit it and it was Christian Eriksen. I told you there was going to be another goal, there is, two-all!”

So often captain in his latter career at Spurs, Michael, now skipper at Hull, played 324 times for us between 2005-14 and wore the armband when we faced AC Milan at the same stage of the Champions League in 2011. He knew exactly how important this first leg was in Turin and it was raw emotion as we completed our comeback from 2-0 down for 2-2.

Below: Typical defending from Daws with Heurelho Gomes against AC Milan in 2011

“Spurs are a Club I still love and miss dearly, I played for the Club for so many years and you just get caught up in the emotion,” he said.

“I’m not on Twitter but when I was back in training it (his reaction) was going around. It was just a natural reaction that night. I’m sure most Spurs fans felt the same!

“This is Spurs in the Champions League and the memories come flooding back. I played with Christian, Jan, Hugo, Mousa, Danny Rose, Harry, all great players and great lads and I just want them to be successful. They are playing so well and it’s great to watch.

Below: Celebrations with Sandro and Vendran Corluka after beating AC Milan in 2011

“I just want the team to do well and I always look out for the results.

“You look at the players there now, as someone now looking in from the outside, it’s gone to the next level since I left. We had some amazing players, world-class players like Bale, Modric, Berbatov but look at the squad there now.

“I think what Mauricio Pochettino has done is incredible with the move to the new stadium to follow - I can’t wait to come down for that!”

Look out for more from Michael in our preview panel tomorrow...