Christian and Allan - Danes in conversation!

Fresh from his goal against Hungary last week, Christian Eriksen will be hoping for more of the same as Denmark take on Sweden in another international friendly this evening.

Our Danish dynamo was in fine form in the closing months of the Premier League campaign and made a clean sweep of our fans’ Player of the Season awards.

He’s swiftly carried that momentum onto the international stage and – after a chat with fellow countryman and former Spurs favourite Allan Nielsen – he’s looking ahead with optimism.

Having met up with Allan, whose diving header famously won us the League Cup final against Leicester City in 1999, at the Training Centre a few months ago – our 22-year-old star has been assured by his compatriot: “You’ve come to the right place!”

Comparing his own experience at the Club, in which he scored 18 goals in 115 appearances between 1996 and 2000, to Christian’s first season with us, Allan had some encouraging words for the former Ajax midfielder.

Ahead of tonight’s match in Copenhagen , here’s the only two full Danish internationals to have represented us in conversation...

CE: I joined last summer – how did you find it when you arrived at Spurs?

AN: Well I remember the language used in the dressing room was a little bit different! We learned English at school, but the English spoken in the dressing room was totally different. How did you find that?

CE: Same here as well! I learned it at school and then you come here and there’s a lot of slang terms flying around and there’s a few words you don’t really understand. You really have to concentrate when you listen.

AN: What about White Hart Lane? I heard you had a good performance on your debut against Norwich?

CE: The stadium is very nice, I like it. There’s a nice atmosphere, nice people, nice pitch, so it’s been really good.

AN: And the Training Centre’s not bad either! I remember being at the training ground when I first came here in 1996 – it looks a little bit different now!

CE: Yes I’d imagine it was different! I haven’t been to the old training ground, I’ve just only been here of course. But I’m happy – it’s fantastic here. Do you remember much about your time on the pitch here?

AN: Well obviously coming over from Denmark, the thing you find about the football here is the fast pace. But also when you go to White Hart Lane or any stadium here you have the crowd so close by so you can feel that buzz. Everything goes so quick. How did you see it?

CE: That’s true! Of course I came from Holland where it’s more technical. It’s fast but over here, like you’ve talked about, the pace is incredible and it just goes up and down, up and down all game. It’s really exciting but you have to follow it closely. You still have a lot of space I think, more than in the Dutch league, but of course it does go quickly.

AN: It’s a nice game, though. I think the Premier League is the best place you can play football in the world. It’s so exciting. They have everything. The crowd, the fans – it’s fantastic. You came to the right place.”

CE: Of course! I like the Premier League, it’s a great league to play in.

AN: But you’re a little but under pressure, you know? You’re a Dane coming to Spurs. I don’t know if you’ve heard about a certain goal in a certain cup final in 1999, scored by another Dane?! But then again you’ve scored plenty of goals already...

CE: Yes I’ve scored already, but it wasn’t the winning goal in a cup final!

AN: To be honest it took me a little bit longer to score my first goal when I came here. I think it took me about three months for my first goal but you come here, you go in straight away and you get on the scoresheet – that’s not bad!

CE: Actually it was in my second game against Tromso, but thank you! It was a good start and it was a nice way to get my first season underway.