Joy for Fernando in his second-coldest game ever!
Thu 01 March 2018, 10:09|
Tottenham Hotspur
Fernando Llorente thanked his family for helping him through a difficult period after his blitz in the blizzard froze out Rochdale at Wembley on Wednesday night.
The experienced front man, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Monday, rattled in a 12-minute hat-trick at the start of the second half to kill off the plucky League One side in a controversial FA Cup fifth round replay, played out in heavy snowfall.
It was a significant change of fortunes for the ex-Juventus and Sevilla forward, who has struggled for goals since arriving from Swansea City in the summer and has been in and out of the matchday squad of late.
Asked who has helped him to stay focused during the recent period, Fernando said: “Of course, my wife and my son have been most important for me and then my brother, my sister, my mother and father – all supported me and all are important.
“I’m feeling very good. The hat-trick is important for me because always for a striker when you score goals you have more confidence. I needed to score and I’m very, very happy to help the team.
“It’s crazy (to score three in 12 minutes) but it’s football. Sometimes when you are working well and doing good things, this moment arrives and I’m very happy to score these goals.
“I don’t score too many hat-tricks – it’s the third in my career because I’ve scored two goals a lot of times but the third one is always difficult. Now I have to keep working, the same as today and play to help the team when I get the opportunity.”
Two controversially-disallowed goals and the use of the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) made for an intriguing first 45 minutes while the wintry weather added another factor as we eventually racked up a 6-1 win to book a quarter-final date with Fernando’s former club, Swansea City.
“It’s the second coldest game I’ve played,” revealed the striker. “The first one was in Russia, maybe six or seven years ago against Lokomotiv Moscow with Bilbao in the Europa League. It was -15 degrees and unbelievable – very difficult, very tough.
“It was disappointing with the things that happened in the first half tonight but in the second half, we demonstrated that we are a good team. The conditions of the weather weren’t good but we tried to play good football.”
